Opioid overdose prevention education in Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Distribution of naloxone and training on its proper use are evidence-based strategies for preventing opioid overdose deaths. In-person naloxone training was conducted in major metropolitan areas and urban centers across Texas as part of a state-wide targeted opioid response program. The training program transitioned to a live, virtual format during the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration. This manuscript describes the impact of this transition through analyses of the characteristics of communities reached using the new virtual training format. CASE PRESENTATION: Training participant addresses were compared to county rates of opioid overdose deaths and broadband internet access, and census block comparison to health services shortages, rural designation, and race/ethnicity community characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: The virtual training format reached more learners than the in-person events. Training reached nearly half of the counties in Texas, including all with recent opioid overdose deaths. Most participants lived in communities with a shortage of health service providers, and training reached rural areas, those with limited broadband internet availability, and majority Hispanic communities. In the context of restrictions on in-person gathering, the training program successfully shifted to a live, online format. This transition increased participation above rates observed pre-pandemic and reached communities with the need for equipping those most likely to witness an opioid overdose with the proper use of naloxone.

Street Nursing: Teaching and Improving Community Health.

Living on the streets continues to be a traumatic and dangerous lifestyle that creates many challenges in society, especially challenges related to community health and health care. In San Antonio, Texas, half of the unhoused population is Hispanic, aligning with national reports that document how Hispanics/Latinxs are overrepresented in the unhoused communities. Street Medicine™ programs are surfacing nationwide and around the world, frequently as medical schools' initiatives, to provide medical care to unhoused populations, providing a unique learning opportunity for medical students and other health care disciplines, including Nursing. UT Health Street Nursing organization was formed in the context of a clinical rotation experience for the Population-Focused Health course while supporting and collaborating with Street Medicine SA. This initiative exposes nursing students to the reality of not having a place to live and the struggles vulnerable populations face to access and navigate health care services, discovering how Latinos generally have less access to quality health care and suffer from poor health.