The goal of the Wright MAT project is to expand and enhance access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services for persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the southwest Ohio region, the geographic section of Ohio with the highest rates of alcohol/drug misuse and drug overdose death. Wright MAT will aim to ensure that students fulfill the training requirements needed to obtain a DATA waiver to prescribe MAT in office-based settings. This will be accomplished by providing education and training on the topics of OUD and MAT to students and residents in the medical, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner fields. Specifically, students to be trained are 4th Year medical students at the Wright State University (WSU) Boonshoft School of Medicine (BSOM), 3rd and 4th Year BSOM medical residents in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Obstetrics/Gynecology, and Emergency Medicine, physician assistant (PA) students at Kettering College (KC) and the University of Dayton (UD), and certified nurse practitioner (CNP) students at WSU.
The geographic catchment area for this project is southwest Ohio, where the population demographics are 51% female, 49% male, less than 1% transgender, 10% lesbian, 9% MSM, 5% bisexual, and 99% English-speaking. Montgomery County (OH), where WSU is located, has the highest opioid overdose death rate (56.5 per 100,000) in the state, according to the most recent (2017) Ohio Drug Overdose Report by the Ohio Department of Health. Montgomery County also has the highest rate of illicit drug use in the state, the fourth highest rate of non-medical pain reliever use in the state, the highest rate of non-alcohol drug abuse in the state, and the highest rate of unintended opioid overdose deaths in 2016 (the last year for which there are published data). According to the latest SAMHSA-published National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data, Montgomery County has the highest percentage of individuals in the state of Ohio "needing but not receiving treatment for illicit drug use in the past year."
Wright MAT project objectives are to develop a DATA waiver training plan for medical students and residents, and PA and CNP students, that will become a required component of their respective curricula and sustained beyond the funding period of the grant. For fiscal years 2021 and 2022, as well as in subsequent years, a minimum of 115 medical students, 70 medical residents, 100 PA students, and 10 CNP students will be trained annually. At least 815 students/residents will be trained over the life of the project. Information about this curricular component will be included in marketing materials for prospective students of the respective training programs included in the project. At least two BSOM faculty members will be trained and receive certification to lead DATA waiver trainings. The BSOM will also provide regularly scheduled DATA waiver training for licensed practitioners and faculty.