Date of Award
11-18-2021
Document Type
Scholarly Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Dr. Sarah Cartwright, DNP, MSN-PH, BAM, RN-BC, CAPA, FASPAN
Second Advisor
Dr. Greg Hites, DNP, FNP-BC
Abstract
Practice Problem: Accidental overdose is a continued concern for those who are prescribed opioids, and it is essential that healthcare members intensify prevention and response measures in order to prevent death or misuse from this medication.
PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: “In adult patients at an outpatient chronic pain management clinic (P), how does development and implementation of a safe opioid risk-reduction office policy (I), compared to usual practice (C), improve patient rates of naloxone availability and health literacy (O) over eight weeks (T)?”
Evidence: The CDC’s Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Naloxone and Opioid Overdose, and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services website were used to gather evidence-based components for information and practice changes.
Intervention: This project created a safe opioid risk-reduction strategy in the form of a new office protocol that ensured naloxone was received with instruction on what to do in the event of an overdose or life-threatening respiratory reaction to opioids and other safety information. The providers assessed the change in knowledge by using the teach back method.
Outcome: The results showed improvement in the availability of naloxone as a reversal agent as well as increased understanding of safe opioid storage, disposal, and drug interactions.
Conclusion: The manuscript reports barriers, successes, and challenges discovered during the project. The recommendations can be applied to other outpatient clinic sites to enhance the safety of all patients who manage their chronic pain with the use of prescription opioids.
Recommended Citation
Darmetko, H. (2021). Development and Implementation of an Opioid Risk-Reduction Strategy. [Doctoral project, University of St Augustine for Health Sciences]. SOAR @ USA: Student Scholarly Projects Collection. https://doi.org/10.46409/sr.SIQK4480
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Scholarly project submitted to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice.