What is the PICOT question?
- P- (Patient, population, or problem): In patients diagnosed with Opioid Use Disorder,
- I- (Intervention): does Naloxone education for both patients and their families
- C- (Comparison with other treatment/current practice): compared to Naloxone education for patients prescribed Suboxone,
- O- (Desired outcome): reduce opioid overdose deaths
- T- (Time Frame): in the period of 12 months.
What is the practice issue/problem? What is the scope of the issue? What is the need for change?
The practice issue is the lack of Naloxone education in patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder. Opioid treatment is frequently used to reduce pain, but opioid users are at high risk of overdose or relapse (Lott & Rhodes, 2016). In addition to drug-addicts, patient receiving opioid treatment make up a high-risk population for overdose. Overdose is usually a consequence of the lack of knowledge about safe doses and poor access to health-related information. Therefore, there is a need for change in education interventions that can result in reduction of opioid overdose mortality. Research by Lott and Rhodes (2016) provides evidence of the effectiveness of patient Naloxone education interventions and thus supports its applicability in patients with opioid use disorder.
What is the practice area?
- Clinical
- Education
How was the practice issue identified?
- Safety/risk management concerns
- Unsatisfactory patient outcomes
What evidence must be gathered?
The necessary evidence comprise literature search of sources that provide evidence of opioid education on the whole and Naloxone education for both patients and their families in particular. Also, it is important to study both professional standards for opioid prescription and dosage as well as guidelines for patient education. Finally, it is useful to study expert opinions about peculiarities of patient education for individuals with opioid use disorder.
- Literature search
- Guidelines
- Expert Opinion
- Standards
Search terms/How to narrow the search?
Opioid use disorder, Naloxone education, opioid overdose, overdose death, reduction of opioid overdose mortality.
The search can be reduced due to the use of word clusters (phrases) instead of separate words during search. Moreover, it is better to use specialized databases such as PubMed, EBSCO, and others. Finally, it is important to limit search by date to get access to the most recent and relevant data.
Reference
Lott, D., & Rhodes, J. (2016). Opioid overdose and naloxone education in a substance use disorder treatment program. The American Journal On Addictions, 25(3), 221-226. Web.