Date of Conferral

6-25-2024

Date of Award

June 2024

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Sue Bell

Abstract

The Substance Abuse Mental Health and Human Services Administration (SAMHSA) has set guidelines for opioid prescribing practices. The core principles of SAMHSA are to prevent overdose abuse and to provide appropriate treatment for those with an opioid abuse disorder. The concern addressed by the Doctor of Nursing Practice project was the gap in physician education regarding a Best Practice Alert (BPA) in the Electronic Medical Record that appears when prescribing an opioid to a patient without cancer. The alert indicates best practice is to prescribe naloxone with the opioid prescription. The naloxone BPA education project was implemented using the exploration, preparation, implementation, and sustainment model. Pretest and posttest knowledge related to the BPA and concurrent opioid and naloxone prescribing was measured for the participating physicians (n = 33). The pretest showed that 21 of 33 physicians (67%) lacked knowledge related to the BPA and correct prescribing of naloxone prior to the education. After the education, 29 of 33 physicians (91%) answered all questions correctly. Of the 33 physicians, three (9%) documented that they would not change their practice based on the education because they were already following the SAMHSA guidelines. A two-tailed t test statistic comparing means, showed a significant gain in knowledge related to naloxone prescribing in conjunction with opioids (p < .001) among the participating physicians. This project will promote social change by increasing the number of naloxone prescriptions given to patients for treatment of opioid-related overdoses, thereby, decreasing opioid-related deaths.

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