It’s Not Just for Physicians: An Interprofessional Education Activity About the Opioid Crisis to Improve Collaboration

The opioid epidemic continues as a significant health crisis in this country. Recently, the National Academy of Medicine established an Opioid Action Collaborative to facilitate greater education across professions (https://nam.edu/programs/action-collaborative-on-countering-the-u-s-opi…). Since 2018, we have implemented an interprofessional education (IPE) activity for our prescribing and non-prescribing, human and animal health care learners. We participated in the NAM Action Collaborative this year to enhance our activity.Implementation: Student participants in this required activity are from dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant studies, physical therapy, and veterinary medicine. The curriculum focuses on screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment and the NAM Competency Framework. This year, we included content about stigma reduction and patient and family member lived experiences. The learning format presently has students complete asynchronous learning modules and then work in interprofessional groups during an online synchronous session to apply interprofessional collaborative skills around a case study.Evaluation plan: Each year students complete a survey with items associated with the activity learning goals. The survey uses a 5-point Likert-type scale response to evaluate: 1) self-perceived improvement in knowledge/skills, and 2) self-efficacy pre-and post the activity. Open-ended questions are asked to identify key learning take-aways and areas for improvement.Outcome(s) and significance: Over the years, survey results indicate students agree their knowledge and skills to identify and refer individuals suspected of abuse improved and their knowledge of their own and other professions role in the opioid epidemic increased. Consistent primary learning take-aways include: 1) the value of interprofessional teamwork, 2) the role of veterinary medicine in the opioid crisis, and 3) how all professions need to collaborate. This activity is unique since it includes prescribers and non-prescribers and veterinarians. Through this, students gain broader knowledge of health professions roles and responsibilities and how to collaborate with them to address the opioid crisis.