The implementation of a naloxone rescue program in university students

Abstract Objective Responding to the nationwide opioid overdoseepidemic, Washington State University initiated a naloxone safety netproject intending to increase awareness of opioid overdose, increase the availability of naloxone, and examine university students' perceptions regarding the usefulness of a novel, large-group audience-training model. Setting A Washington State University campus. Practice description In September 2014, university students were recruited to attended a large-group audience training event which included opioid overdoseprevention, recognition, and first response. All trained participants received an intranasal naloxone reversal kit. Practice innovation Student pharmacists, who previously received naloxone rescue training and overdose education from the pharmacist lead researcher, acted as trainers. The training consisted of a large-group audience delivery with small-group practice sessions facilitated by the student pharmacists. Evaluation Participants who attended the recruitment event completed a pre-training survey to assess knowledge and perceptions about opioid use disorderand overdose. The following week, participants attended the training event. Participants were asked to complete a post-training survey to evaluate the usefulness of the program. Results Forty-three percent of the participants (65/150) who attended the recruitment event reported knowing someone who used prescription opioids to get "high." Seventy-four participants attended the training, and 92% of them (68/74) completed the post-training survey. The majority of respondents agreed that the training program met their expectations and the skills they learned could be used to intervene in an overdose situation. Conclusions Before training, survey responses from recruited participates indicated the need to discuss opioid use disorderamong university students is important. Use of a training model involving large-group audiences followed by small-group practice sessions offersan acceptableeducational solution regarding opioid overdoseand prevention. Our experience suggests using this training model to educate university students to recognize and provide first response is a feasible and acceptable approach.