Patient Experience and Satisfaction with Opioid-Related Screening and Intervention in North Dakota Community Pharmacies

Abstract

Background Screening for patient-level opioid-related risk in the community pharmacy setting has increased patient education about opioids and naloxone distribution, helping to mitigate the impact of the opioid epidemic. However, patient experience and satisfaction with opioid screening and education is unknown. Fear of patient dissatisfaction may limit pharmacists' willingness to implement screening activities. Objective To report patient experience and satisfaction of a convenience sample of patients undergoing screening and intervention for opioid-related risk as a part of the ONE Program (formerly ONE Rx). Methods Patients who received ONE Program screening and intervention from their community pharmacist were recruited to participate in a 9 item survey regarding their experience and satisfaction. Results were analyzed by urban and rural location of participants. Results Urban (n = 42) and rural (n = 32) patients who completed the survey reported positive experiences namely feeling comfortable with the ONE process (86.5%), the process taking an appropriate amount of time (93.2%) and feeling safer as a result of their pharmacist’s attention to their opioid-related medication risk (86.3%). Urban patients were significantly more likely than rural patients to report positive attitude and behavior changes as a result of the ONE process. Conclusion High levels of patient satisfaction and positive experience with the ONE Program screening and intervention process for patient-level opioid-related risks may encourage community pharmacists to more broadly implement such activities.

Impact of Implementing Screening and Interventions to Target Prevention of Opioid Misuse and Accidental Overdose in the Inpatient Setting

“…As of this writing, it has been tested in community pharmacies in 3 US states that are geographically and culturally diverse. 16 This study has several limitations. Despite ONE program screenings having taken an average of 5 minutes of pharmacist time per patient in the community setting, and patients having had a positive experience with screenings overall, 16 it may remain a challenge for pharmacists to find time to deploy the screening and converse with the patient and/or provider about patients' risks.…”

“…Each interview averaged a duration of less than 5 minutes, which is consistent with previously published duration in the community setting. 16 Of the 45 patients screened via interview, 42 screened as at risk of misuse or accidental overdose based on the ONE Patient Intake Form (Table 2). All 42 of these patients were identified as at risk for accidental overdose and 5 of them were additionally identified as at risk of misuse based on their ORT score (Table 2).…”

“…As of this writing, it has been tested in community pharmacies in 3 US states that are geographically and culturally diverse. 16…”

“…This study has several limitations. Despite ONE program screenings having taken an average of 5 minutes of pharmacist time per patient in the community setting, and patients having had a positive experience with screenings overall, 16 it may remain a challenge for pharmacists to find time to deploy the screening and converse with the patient and/or provider about patients’ risks. We did not assess any potential negative impact of the sensitive questions contained in the ONE Patient Intake Form, as we feel this represents a routine part of pharmacist practice and general medical care.…”

A scoping literature review of pharmacy-based opioid misuse screening and brief interventions

“…Of the 24 records included in the qualitative synthesis, only six were intervention-based studies (Ref ID 1–6). 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 Two of these studies by Cochran et al involve the same intervention initially evaluated in a small-scale randomized control trial (RCT) (Ref ID 1) 21,22 with a larger active-control RCT (Ref ID 2) currently underway. 24 They used the Prescription Opioid Misuse Index as a screener and conducted motivational interviewing, counseling, medication therapy management, and naloxone navigation as brief interventions, with referral to treatment.…”