Don’t “Waive” Goodbye to Education for Opioid Use Disorder

Closing the Opioid Treatment Gap Through Advance Practice Nursing Activation

“…Inadequate provider education is a well-documented barrier to MOUD treatment, and evidence shows that some physicians find their 8-hour required buprenorphine training to be insufficient (Barry et al, 2009). Concurrently, calls are made for educational initiatives that increase MOUD delivery generally, specifying the importance of MOUD education within a racial/ethnic justice framework to better reach underserved populations (Bottner et al, 2021; Wilson & Bagley, 2022). Our study of APRN learner satisfaction with a novel 24-hour curriculum grounded in health equity revealed that nearly all students felt the education was beneficial to their professional development and that they had used and would continue using the educational content in their work.…”

“…The authors note: “Educators need a more nimble and immediate system for identifying and sharing gaps that enables them to quickly deploy relevant educational programs to meet community needs” (p. 45). Another recent National Academies publication notes that the first priority in expanding buprenorphine MOUD is to “create standard competencies to educate the rising and practicing health care workforce” (Bottner et al, 2021, p. 3). Published substance use competencies are already defined for nurses at all levels (Finnell, 2022).…”

“…In addition to MOUD-specific content, education for health professionals should include other curricular content to stem the ever-rising rate of opioid overdose deaths. Such content might include, although not limited to, the following: the social and structural inequities that inform low MOUD treatment access and delivery rates, knowledge of and countermeasures to substance-related stigma and health inequities, treatment expansion models, and related research (Bottner et al, 2021; Weimer et al, 2021b). With our novel curriculum, we have included all these elements into a course that seeks to empower APRN students to deliver MOUD via buprenorphine once they are practicing clinicians.…”

For the Physician, By the Physician: The Management of Addiction in Medicine

“…Physicians, however, do not feel qualified with only 8 hours of training for OUD treatment. 10 Moreover, only 4% of licensed physicians are approved to prescribe buprenorphine, while 47% of US counties lack a buprenorphine-waivered physician. 11 Education for use disorders of other substances-such as alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs besides opioids-mirror trends seen with OUD training as early as medical school education.…”