Thursday, March 30, 2023
3/30/2023
The goal of this project is to increase the number of medical, physician assistant, and nursing (FNP) graduates trained to provide OUD screening, education, referral, and medication-assisted treatment in underserved communities. TUC is a private, not-for-profit university, located in the city of Vallejo within Solano County. Solano County is one of the most racially diverse counties in the US, with high rates of poverty, a 10 year trend in increasing OUD associated emergency department usage, and rising overdose deaths while also being medically underserved. Growing recognition of the opioid epidemic, excessive opioid prescribing practices, and a shortage of access to opioid use disorder (OUD) treatments has led to a call for more pain, opioid, and OUD training in health professional schools. This creates an opportunity for health profession schools to reexamine how they train future providers in regards to OUD and medication assisted treatment (MAT) with a focus on reducing stigma and closing the treatment gap. For counties like Solano County this means addressing health disparities and foundational access to primary care. TUC focuses on training primary care providers with an emphasis on underserved populations. Recognizing that student attitudes and confidence are best impacted by experiential learning and peer education, we are implementing a multi-year Interprofessional Opioid Use Disorder (IP-OUD) Fellowship program. Within the first 90 days, we will implement the IP-OUD Fellows program and recruit the first cohort of 17 IP-OUD Fellows. In year 1, we will implement the IP-OUD Fellows Program elective course and the experiential learning component reaching 80% of medicine, physician assistant, and nursing students. In years 2 and 3, we will implement the focused clinical experiences in OUD and MAT reaching 100% of the IP-OUD Fellows and continue to reach 80% of medicine, physician assistant, and nursing students. The measurable outcomes will be increased knowledge of OUD and MAT, recognition of bias and decreased stigma around OUD and MAT, increased confidence in recognizing and managing OUD, increased positive attitude around MAT treatment efficacy, and increased willingness to provide services. Validated measurement tools used include the drug and drug problems perceptions questionnaire (DDPPQ), Short Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Perception Questionnaire adapted for OUD, interprofessional professionalism assessment (IPA), and Students’ perceptions of interprofessional clinical education revised (SPICE-R). The strength of the current proposal is the foundation in interprofessional OUD and MAT education woven together with a public health lens. This framework is rooted in our TUC values of service, diversity, inclusion, and social justice which the foundation for closing the treatment gap for patients with OUD. In year 1, 17 students from nursing, physician assistant studies, and osteopathic medicine will be named as the first cohort of IP-OUD Fellows, and they will provide peer training to 108 medical students, 32 nursing students, and 38 PA students. In year 2, and annually thereafter, an additional 17 Fellows will be added to the program and will provide peer education to 324 students and over 525 students and >510 community members will be served.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
