MAINE, USA — New research conducted by Maine Medical Center (MMC) found that patients considered high-risk for an opioid overdose were not prescribed the medicine needed to reverse an opioid overdose.
The research which was led by MMC physicians David Kispert M.D., Jenny Carwile Sc.D., M.P.H., and Kinna Thakarar, D.O., M.P.H reveals just six percent of patients considered high-risk for an opioid overdose received a prescription for naloxone when they visited internal medicine clinics at Maine Medical Partners.
The finding from the MaineHealth also shows that patients were more likely to receive prescriptions if they were younger, of Hispanic origin, or receiving care at a clinic in a lower-income community.
“This research is significant because it found disparities of naloxone prescribing based on age, income, and ethnicity,” Dr. Thakarar said. “What is encouraging is that these findings prompted MaineHealth to improve its naloxone prescribing practices.”
As a result of these inefficient prescribing practices, Dr. Silvia and Nichols said she developed a plan to proactive plan to solve the issue – a Naloxone toolkit aimed at educating providers and clinicians to recognize risk factors for overdose and how to treat it:
Naloxone education toolkit:
• Recognize who is at the highest risk of overdose.
• Describe the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose.
• Understand the four different naloxone formulations and how to use each one.
• Talk to patients about the risk of overdose and about naloxone.
• Locate tools that relate to naloxone prescribing.
The toolkit comes with videos and education to help explain how to use naloxone.