Teaching Nursing Students How to Decrease the Stigma Against People Who Use Drugs

Promoting Safer Opioid Practices and Professional Collaboration Through Interprofessional Simulation

ABSTRACT

Simulation-enhanced interprofessional education is widely viewed as an effective teaching pedagogy to foster effective communication and teamwork for healthcare students. Pharmacists and registered nurses must learn to work collaboratively during their educational programs in order to be prepared for the complexities of modern healthcare. This study evaluated prelicensure pharmacy and prelicensure nursing students' perceptions of professional collaboration before and after caring for a standardized patient exhibiting opioid dependence secondary to inappropriate use of an opioid analgesic. Statistically significant gains in communication, collaboration, roles and responsibilities, patient-centered care, conflict management, and team functioning were measured for both pharmacy and nursing students after the interprofessional simulation. This study adds to the existing evidence that suggests simulation-enhanced interprofessional education is an effective teaching strategy; however, this study demonstrates its usefulness for students learning about safer opioid analgesic practices.

Is the Clinical Practicum in Addiction Treatment Facilities an Effective Educational Intervention to Improve Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward Alcohol Use Disorders?

ABSTRACT

The paucity of education and training on alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in nursing curricula is the main predictor of negative attitudes and results in limited knowledge access and delivery of health care for persons experiencing these problems. Although experts advocate increasing the time devoted to alcohol-related content in a crowded curriculum, didactic strategies for teaching about addiction in prequalifying nursing education have been discussed. This study aimed to verify the effectiveness of an educational experience that integrated clinical practicum experience in addiction treatment facilities for nursing students' attitudes. A quasi-experimental one-group study with pre-and-post 3-month follow-ups was carried out with 108 nursing students who answered the Attitudes Scale toward Alcohol, Alcohol Use Disorder, and Patients with Alcohol Use Disorders. The effect of the clinical practicum was apparent, with statistically significant changes to more positive global attitude scores in all measures. Previous educational intervention for AUDs during nursing education was a predictor of positive attitudes (OR = 7.21, p < .04). Students' self-perceived skills and professional preparation to deliver and direct care for patients with AUDs improved after the intervention, suggesting that clinical practice influenced students' skills for AUD identification across nursing practice. Previous contact with this population with lack of training in substance use disorder seems to favor negative attitude development. Clinical practicum experience in addiction treatment facilities improved nursing students' attitudes toward AUDs and patients with AUDs, and its effects were sustained 3 months later.

Nurses' Perception of Caring for Patients With Substance Use Disorder

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research was to explore the perceptions of nurses regarding patients with substance use disorder (SUD), healthcare provided, and desired resources to care for this population properly. This study used a cross-sectional, descriptive design. Data were collected via an anonymous 12-item survey and three open-ended questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and conventional content analysis. Nurses with less than 1 year of experience reported more significant challenges when caring for patients with SUD. These challenges included difficulties in managing pain, implementing alternative pain management techniques, and knowing who to contact when problems occur. The study revealed many needs of nurses to provide compassionate care for patients with SUD. Findings indicate a need for education for nurses, especially novice nurses, who care for patients with SUD.

Contact based intervention reduces stigma among pharmacy students

INTRODUCTION

Interventions to reduce the stigma of substance use disorders by health professionals often include didactic instruction combined with an interactive component that includes a guest speaker in recovery. Few interactive studies have focused on pharmacy students. Community pharmacists are moving to the front lines to battle the opioid epidemic; therefore, pharmacy students should be included in interventions aimed at reducing stigma by health professionals.

METHODS

This study examined the effects of a contact-based interactive intervention delivered by a peer recovery support specialist on perceived stigma of opioid use disorder among third-year pharmacy students (N = 115) enrolled in an integrative psychiatry course. Stigma was measured using the Brief Opioid Stigma Scale.

RESULTS

Our study found significant differences in students' perceived stigma, both with their personal beliefs and their beliefs regarding the public, supporting the use of interactive presentations by peer recovery support specialists to decrease perceived stigma of opioid use disorder by health professionals.

CONCLUSIONS

This type of intervention for pharmacy students shows promise in reducing substance use disorder stigma and should be further explored.

Transforming an educational ecosystem for substance use disorders: A multi-modal model for continuous curricular improvement and institutional change

Health professions curricula are created to prepare learners to effectively address health issues affecting individ uals and their communities. Ideally, curricula emphasize the predominant biopsychosocial influences impacting the health of diverse populations. However, despite decades of investment and advances in educational research and design, we have failed to create a health professional workforce capable of equitably meeting the health care needs of the public. Particular communities, geographic regions, and patients with stigmatized diagnoses continue to be underserved, and the potential contributions of multidisciplinary health professionals and advanced practice providers continue to be unrealized within a predominantly physician-centric health care model. Genuine educational transformation requires multidimensional, iterative strategies used to meaningfully evolve traditional classroom curricula, break from the implicit and "hidden" curricula, and enrich the educational ecosystem in which all operate. This manuscript elaborates the construct and process of "educational ecosystem transformation" as a tool for the evolution of the educational ecosystem and its situated curriculum that will eventually drive the enrichment of the healthcare workforce. Drawing from traditional models of curriculum development, recent work on transforming the hidden curriculum, the clinical learning environment, and change management strategies, this new approach uses a health equity and structural competence lens to interrogate and deconstruct a learning system in order to identify opportunities to change, strengthen, and deepen a learner's experience around a specific topic. This process requires an in-depth, multidimensional assessment followed by the identification of key change targets and a stepwise, iterative plan for improvement and transformation. The topic area of substance use disorders (SUD) is used to illustrate how this complex process might be employed to improve the quality of care, realize and amplify the contributions of the entire healthcare team, stimulate interest in addiction medicine as a career, and reduce the stigma and disparities patients with SUDs often experience.

Barriers to management of opioid withdrawal in hospitals in England: a document analysis of hospital policies on the management of substance dependence

BACKGROUND

People who use illicit opioids are more likely to be admitted to hospital than people of the same age in the general population. Many admissions end in discharge against medical advice, which is associated with readmission and all-cause mortality. Opioid withdrawal contributes to premature discharge. We sought to understand the barriers to timely provision of opioid substitution therapy (OST), which helps to prevent opioid withdrawal, in acute hospitals in England.

METHODS

We requested policies on substance dependence management from 135 National Health Service trusts, which manage acute hospitals in England, and conducted a document content analysis. Additionally, we reviewed an Omitted and Delayed Medicines Tool (ODMT), one resource used to inform critical medicine categorisation in England. We worked closely with people with lived experience of OST and/or illicit opioid use, informed by principles of community-based participatory research.

RESULTS

Eighty-six (64%) trusts provided 101 relevant policies. An additional 44 (33%) responded but could not provide relevant policies, and five (4%) did not send a definitive response. Policies illustrate procedural barriers to OST provision, including inconsistent application of national guidelines across trusts. Continuing community OST prescriptions for people admitted in the evening, night-time, or weekend was often precluded by requirements to confirm doses with organisations that were closed during these hours. 42/101 trusts (42%) required or recommended a urine drug test positive for OST medications or opioids prior to OST prescription. The language used in many policies was stigmatising and characterised people who use drugs as untrustworthy. OST was not specifically mentioned in the reviewed ODMT, with 'drugs used in substance dependence' collectively categorised as posing low risk if delayed and moderate risk if omitted.

CONCLUSIONS

Many hospitals in England have policies that likely prevent timely and effective OST. This was underpinned by the 'low-risk' categorisation of OST delay in the ODMT. Delays to continuity of OST between community and hospital settings may contribute to inpatient opioid withdrawal and increase the risk of discharge against medical advice. Acute hospitals in England require standardised best practice policies that account for the needs of this patient group.

Addressing Bias and Stigma in the Language We Use With Persons With Opioid Use Disorder: A Narrative Review

BACKGROUND: Despite an increase in access to medications for opioid use disorder, less than 20% of individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) receive treatment. Stigmatizing language has been identified as a potential trigger for explicit and implicit biases that may adversely affect treatment enrollment and quality of care for persons with OUD. AIMS: To conduct a narrative review of the literature on stigmatizing language and OUD, examine how treatment outcomes are affected, and present strategies to reduce bias and promote OUD treatment. METHOD: A narrative review of the literature between 2010 and 2019 was conducted using CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycINFO. Key search terms were opioid use disorder (or substance use disorder), stigma, and language. Fifty-two articles were screened for inclusion, and 17 articles were included in this review. RESULTS: The articles reviewed provide consensus that stigmatizing language toward persons with OUD fosters explicit and implicit bias and impedes engagement in treatment. Four themes emerged: (1) stigma and language, (2) stigma and language used by health care professionals, (3) stigma and language used by the general public, and (4) stigma and language used by people with OUD. CONCLUSIONS: Stigmatizing language is dehumanizing and plays a pivotal role in bias and discrimination that may contribute to unsatisfactory treatment outcomes among persons with OUD. Health care professionals, nursing in particular, must assume an intentional stance against stigma perpetuated toward persons with OUD through advocacy in education, practice, policy, and the media.

Nursing students' attitudes towards alcohol use disorders and related issues: A comparative study in four American countries

The present study identified and compared the attitudes of nursing students from North and South American countries towards alcohol, alcohol use disorders and persons with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). A cross-sectional design and survey approach were used. The sample consisted of 327 nursing students recruited from four nursing schools in metropolitan regions of North and South America. The questionnaire contained questions about sex, age, marital status, home country and other questions about training in substance use disorders during nursing education and previous experiences with substance use disorder patients. To identify nursing students' attitudes, validated English, Spanish and Portuguese versions of the attitudes scale for alcohol, alcoholism and persons with AUDs (EAFAA) were applied. Comparison of the four groups suggested that nursing students in the United States demonstrated more positive attitudes than students from Colombia, Mexico and Brazil. Similar positive attitudes were observed towards individuals with AUDs. Results of the attitudes towards the aetiology of AUDs showed positive attitudes in all samples, suggesting a contemporary understanding of AUDs. Nursing students' attitudes were associated with home country and training in substance use disorders during nursing education. Nursing students' attitudes were generally positive across countries. Idiosyncratic cultural and educational aspects in these countries and world regions likely significantly influenced the attitudes of nursing students towards alcohol and associated issues.

Improving mental health education in nursing school

ABSTRACT

Nurses are at the forefront of providing care to individuals with mental illness in various healthcare settings, yet the World Health Organization and others have found that many nurses are inadequately prepared to provide mental health care. This article discusses the nurse's role in providing care to individuals with mental illness and the importance of integrating more mental health education into undergraduate nursing curricula.

Attitudes Toward Organ Donation for Persons Who Have a Substance Use Disorder Relative to Other Health Conditions

Background: Increases in opioid-related overdose and death have led to increases in the number of organs available for donation and transplant, however persons who have a substance use disorder (SUD) may be disadvantaged relative to other health conditions with regard to receiving an organ for transplant. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate perceptions regarding acceptability and priority for organ donation vs. a control condition (resuscitation) for hypothetical persons with nine target health conditions including a substance use disorder, among persons recruited as part of an online survey. Methods: Respondents (N = 285; male = 172, female = 113) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk rated acceptability and priority that hypothetical persons representing nine target health conditions expected to influence transplant success (including a SUD) receive an organ transplant and resuscitation via a survey hosted by Qualtrics. Primary outcomes of stigma ratings and priority ranking of persons as a function of the hypothetical target health condition were analyzed using Repeated Measures Analyses of Variance and Bonferroni-corrected t-tests. Demographic information was presented descriptively for all respondents. Results: Ratings for acceptability and priority for persons who had a SUD were generally lower than ratings for other conditions for both organ for transplant and resuscitation, though respondents reported less stigma toward resuscitation, F ₍₈₎ = 22.35, p <0.001 overall. Respondents were least supportive of persons who smoked cigarettes receiving an organ, p's < 0.001. Priority rankings favored persons who were young or had a history of heart disease. Multivariable models determined that target health condition, F ₍₈₎ = 33.64, p < 0.001, was a better and more consistent predictor of response than demographic variables that were examined. Conclusions: Data suggest that general perception of acceptability and priority ranking for receipt of life-saving interventions was lower for persons who have a SUD relative to other clinically-relevant health conditions. Research to examine this effect among persons working in the donation system are warranted and efforts to reduce stigma toward persons who have a SUD should be continued.

Teaching Those Who Care How to Care for a Person With Substance Use Disorder

BACKGROUND

Substance use disorder (SUD) is on the rise globally, and nurses are not prepared to care for this population.

PURPOSE

The purpose was to determine if a 4-hour antistigma intervention improved prelicensure student nurse attitudes and perceived stigma toward people with SUD.

METHODS

This was a nonrandomized quasi-experimental survey study. Participants completed the 20-item Drug and Drug Problems Perception Questionnaire (DDPPQ), the 8-item Perceived Stigma of Substance Abuse Scale (PSAS), and the 13-item Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale at baseline and repeated the DDPPQ and PSAS postintervention. Paired t tests were used to determine the mean differences in the total DDPPQ and total PSAS scores.

RESULTS

After the antistigma intervention, there was a significant improvement in overall therapeutic attitudes (t = 8.4, df = 108, P < .001) and perceived stigma (t = -2.5, df = 108, P = .01) in undergraduate nursing students (n = 126).

CONCLUSIONS

Incorporating antistigma educational approaches may lead to more involvement and compassionate care for people with SUD.