Law Enforcement Officers' Preceptions of Intranasal Naloxone Training for Opioid Overdoses
Drug overdose mortality involving prescription opioid medications and heroin has reached epidemic levels in United States. The rate of deaths from drug overdose has nearly quadrupled since 1999 and continues to worsen as overdose deaths reached its highest record in history in 2014. Washtenaw County is not immune to this opioid overdose epidemic. From 2011 to 2014, the number of opioid overdose death rose from 29 to 65. However, deaths from opioid overdose are preventable through administration of naloxone, a medication that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses. As first responders, law enforcement officers (LEOs) are often first to arrive at a scene of an overdose and training LEOs to administer naloxone has shown to reduce opioid overdose mortality. Since August 2015, the LEOs from Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) have been trained to use intranasal (IN) naloxone and have already successfully rescued 13 lives from opioid overdoses. The IN naloxone offers an innovative route to administer naloxone through a needleless system design that protects LEOs from needle stick injuries. To further evaluate and expand our IN Naloxone Training for LEOs, we will address the following specific aims:
- Conduct an in-depth evaluation of our current WCSO IN naloxone training using face to face semi-structured interviews with LEOs who have utilized IN naloxone in the field
a. Interviews will focus on how to improve the didactic content of the IN naloxone training.
b. Data will be analyzed using constant comparative analysis, and will be used to meet Aim 2. - Create an updated version of IN naloxone training curriculum for LEOs using the semi-structured interview data (collected from Aim 1)
- Establish credibility of the updated IN naloxone training curriculum (developed in Aim 2) with LEOs who participated in the face to face semi-structured interviews
a. PI will review the updated IN naloxone training curriculum to verify that the content reflects their suggestions.
The goal of this proposed pilot study is to develop an updated IN naloxone training curriculum for LEOs that will be used to create an IN naloxone training video for LEOs. Future research will develop the IN naloxone training video for LEOs and investigate the effectiveness of the video training in preparation for wider dissemination. Ultimately, the IN naloxone training video for LEOs will facilitate a greater number of LEOs trained in delivering the life-saving naloxone with the potential to reduce and prevent deaths
from opioid overdoses.