Faculty

Needs Statement

Kentucky has one of the highest rates of opioid overdose deaths in the nation. Naloxone is a life-saving medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose (OD) and co-prescribing naloxone is recommended for patients at risk for OD. However, recent data from the CDC shows only 1 naloxone prescription is dispensed for every 69 high-dose opioid prescriptions in the United States. Distribution of naloxone is a critical component of the public health response to the OD epidemic and pharmacies can play a key role in increasing naloxone distribution. In March 2015, Kentucky Senate Bill 192 (SB 192) was passed, granting certified pharmacists the authority to dispense naloxone via a physician-approved protocol without a patient-specific prescription.Despite the passage of SB 192, the rates of naloxone prescriptions dispensed in retail pharmacies across Kentucky remain low and variable. Pharmacy technicians play an integral role in the pharmacy team and are well positioned to recognize patients at overdose risk and offer preventive interventions. To help increase the rate of naloxone access in Kentucky, all members of the pharmacy team (pharmacists and pharmacy technicians) need education regarding opioid addiction and overdose risk, naloxone therapy, patient education on naloxone use, and how to implement a naloxone dispensing protocol in their pharmacy per SB 192. After participating in this educational activity, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will be able to help reduce OD in Kentucky through increased dispensing of naloxone to at-risk patients.

Target Audience

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians

Objectives

Upon completion of this education activity, participants will be able to:

Pharmacists
1. Recall information about the epidemiology of opioid addiction and overdose
2. List indications and adverse effects of naloxone therapy
3. Review techniques for educating persons receiving naloxone via protocol regarding the use of naloxone for rescue therapy
4. Identify the required elements and documentation of a naloxone dispensing protocol

Pharmacy Technicians
1. Recall information about the epidemiology of opioid addiction and overdose
2. List indications and adverse effects of naloxone therapy
3. Choose patients who should be referred to the pharmacist for naloxone education
4. Identify the pharmacy technician’s responsibilities when dispensing naloxone by protocol

Accreditation

In support of improving patient care, University of Kentucky HealthCare CECentral is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Other credit:

UK Healthcare CECentral certifies this activity for 1.0 hours of participation

Faculty Disclosure

No speakers or planners have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.

The material presented in this course represents information obtained from the scientific literature as well as the clinical experiences of the speakers. In some cases, the presentations might include discussion of investigational agents and/or off-label indications for various agents used in clinical practice. Speakers will inform the audience when they are discussing investigational and/or off-label uses.

Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone commercial bias in any presentation, but it is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Acknowledgment

The information in this program is intended to be general and educational in nature. Clinical decisions should be made by the treating provider based on an individual patient’s condition. This program is not legal advice. Licensed providers are individually responsible for complying with all laws and regulations related to their practice.

This publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health through the NIH HEAL Initiative under award number UM1DA049406. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or its NIH HEAL Initiative.