Better together: utilizing an interprofessional course and escape room to educate healthcare students about opioid use disorder.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of an innovative interprofessional educational activity on healthcare professional students' learning. The educational activity targeted student knowledge of opioid use disorder (OUD) and perceptions of working with an interprofessional team while caring for patients with OUD. METHODS: Students from nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant, dentistry, social work, and medicine programs were recruited to participate in the interprofessional educational activity. The educational experience included seven asynchronous modules and a virtual synchronous escape room. Prior to the educational programming, participants completed a pre-survey that assessed their knowledge and attitudes towards working on an interprofessional team and perceptions of patients with OUD. The asynchronous modules were required in order to participate in the escape room and each module contained its own pre/post quiz to assess student knowledge. RESULTS: A total of 402 students participated in the course. Prior to participating in the course, students disagreed that they had extensive educational experience with SUD (2.45 ± 0.79). The students displayed significant improvement in the knowledge based areas after completing the seven asynchronous modules. The largest significant area of knowledge-based improvement was seen in treatment of OUD where on the pre-quiz 65.54 ± 20.21% were answered correctly compared to 95.97 ± 9.61% on the post-quiz. Participation in the escape room significantly changed the students' perceptions of working in interprofessional teams while managing patients with OUD. Of the eleven perception variables assessed, seven showed a significant increase in the post-survey. Following the escape room, participants also strongly agreed that they now would refer patients to colleagues in other disciplines. CONCLUSIONS: An interprofessional educational experience including both an asynchronous course and virtual synchronous escape room can increase participant knowledge around OUD and may improve student perceptions of working with an interprofessional team and caring for patients with OUD.

Assessment of pharmacists' opinions toward the behind-the-counter category of medications.

OBJECTIVES: To determine pharmacists' opinions toward implementation of a behind-the-counter (BTC) category of medications and assess pharmacists' level of agreement with dispensing certain medications in this category. METHODS: 473 licensed pharmacists from Ohio were randomly selected for inclusion in the study, 248 of whom completed the survey (52.4% response rate). A self-administered, mailed questionnaire was used to collect data on pharmacists' opinions toward a BTC category, including usefulness to patients, reimbursement issues, impact on patient care, and access issues. The researchers also assessed the degree to which pharmacists felt educationally prepared regarding a BTC category and the potential need for further training and/or education. The questionnaire also included 25 prescription drugs identified from pharmacist focus groups to evaluate appropriateness for inclusion in a BTC category. RESULTS: Pharmacists moderately agreed (5.78 ± 1.33 [mean ± SD]) that introducing a BTC category of medication would advance the profession's goals of providing more pharmacist-directed patient care. Pharmacists also moderately agreed (6.09 ± 1.71) that patient counseling should be mandatory before providing any medications in a BTC category. At their current practice site, pharmacists moderately agreed (5.65 ± 1.62) that they would participate in providing BTC medications; however, they felt the largest issue pertaining to a BTC category of medications was the added amount of time that would be spent with patients (5.34 ± 1.53). On the other hand, pharmacists moderately agreed (5.82 ± 1.26) that they would take the time to counsel patients on BTC medications. Prescription prenatal vitamins (1 mg folic acid), triamcinolone cream, silver sulfadiazine cream, mometasone nasal inhalation, fluconazole 150 mg, epinephrine injection, promethazine, and mebendazole were considered the most appropriate for a BTC category of medications. CONCLUSION: Ultimately, pharmacists moderately agreed that a BTC category is a change in the pharmacy profession that they were willing to embrace.

Metformin for prevention of type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate evidence from the medical literature that metformin is effective in preventing type 2 diabetes. DATA SOURCES: Primary literature was accessed via a MEDLINE search (1966-December 2003) using the terms metformin, type 2 diabetes, and prevention. DATA SYNTHESIS: Two studies evaluated metformin's potential to prevent type 2 diabetes, finding that metformin maintained or reduced fasting blood glucose in non-diabetics. Recently, a large study by the Diabetes Prevention Program showed that metformin may reduce the incidence of diabetes. Researchers compared lifestyle changes, metformin therapy, and placebo groups. They found that both lifestyle changes (58%) and metformin therapy (31%) significantly reduced the occurrence of type 2 diabetes versus placebo. CONCLUSIONS: These studies provide evidence that metformin may reduce the occurrence of type 2 diabetes. Because long-term efficacy has not been determined, further studies are needed.