Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) addresses the Ohio opioid crisis by enhancing training to future physician leaders, with emphasis on primary care and behavioral health, to identify patients suffering from addiction and treat the disease. Using a longitudinal approach in the third and fourth years of medical school, we go beyond pharmacological treatment to put Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in context of pain management and community to improve outcomes.
NEOMED is an Ohio leader in addressing the opioid crisis. Since 2017 We have trained over 250 primary care prescribers in MAT, developed a supplemental training program to improve likelihood that waivered prescribers will add OUD treatment to their practices, led a statewide seven medical school collaborative to develop a longitudinal OUD training curriculum for medical students, and have certified over 300 medical school students in DATA, so they can apply for their waiver to prescribe buprenorphine once they receive their license to practice medicine and prescribe controlled substances.
With support from SAMHSA, NEOMED will continue to expand this effort to address the Ohio OUD crisis by improving existing third- and fourth-year medical school curricula and adding an MAT clinic at NEOMED where students can complete shadowing experiences, while providing a valuable service to the community. New SAMHSA support will enable faculty to incorporate OUD content into three required courses, as well as four elective courses. As part of their graduation requirements over 300 medical students are trained on OUD risk assessment, screening, intervention, and referral in a population health context as part of the Prerequisite to the Clinical Curriculum. They will study the environmental and community context affiliated with OUD, including development of a patient case and taking part in a clinical encounter through Ohio Opiate Project ECHO® in Social Determinants of Health. And they will complete DATA 2000 waiver training, plus supplemental content to help providers build their confidence in delivering treatment before graduation, as they transition to residency programs, in Clinical Epilogue and Capstone. Elective courses with required MAT shadowing and hands-on training will be offered to students most likely to match into a field of medicine where buprenorphine or other therapies will be administered to patients suffering from OUD including psychiatry, family medicine, and internal medicine. This includes expanding an MAT elective.
Implementation data is collected through attendance at courses where content is presented, course grades, completion of checklists during MAT clinical experiences, and completion of DATA 2000 certification training. Outcome data will be collected through Oasis as student OUD patient experiences throughout medical school are tracked, and we will follow-up with students three years after graduation to determine if they incorporated OUD treatment, specifically MAT, into their practices.