Using Peer Recovery Specialists to Educate Nursing Students

Learning that cannot come from a book: An evaluation of an undergraduate alcohol and other drugs subject co-produced with experts by experience

Alcohol and other drugs (AOD) use is a significant public health issue and is associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. Despite this, people who use drugs are often reluctant to seek care due to the lack of trauma-informed treatment and harm reduction treatment options, as well as experiences of stigma and discrimination in health services. Arguably, AOD education that is co-produced with people who use alcohol and drugs can enhance future health professionals' ability to practice in ways that support the needs of this population. This paper reports on a qualitative co-evaluation of a co-produced undergraduate nursing AOD subject. The AOD subject was co-planned, co-designed, co-delivered, and co-evaluated with experts by experience, who have a lived experience of substance dependence and work as advocates and peer workers. Following the delivery of the subject in 2021 and 2022, focus groups were undertaken with 12 nursing students. Focus group data indicate that the co-produced subject supported participants to understand and appreciate how stigma impacts on nursing care and how to recognize and undertake 'good' nursing care that was oriented to the needs of service users. Student participants noted that being co-taught by people who use drugs was particularly powerful for shifting their nursing perspectives on AOD use and nursing care and took learning beyond what could be understood from a book. Findings indicate that co-produced AOD education can shift nursing students' perceptions of AOD use by providing access to tacit knowledge and embodied equitable and collaborative relationships with people who use drugs.

Nursing Students' Use of Harm Reduction in the Clinical Setting

BACKGROUND

The use and awareness of harm reduction education strategies are missing from nursing care of people with substance use disorder (SUD).

PURPOSE

To determine whether targeted training improved nursing students' application of harm reduction education in the clinical setting.

METHODS

This was an experimental 2-group repeated-measures survey study. Nursing students in a baccalaureate program received targeted training for 3 semesters. Training included presentations by people with lived experience, an addiction-trained physician, and a role-play exercise. Students received harm reduction education and reported on the application of this education.

RESULTS

Students in the traditional track cared for more people with SUD than students in the accelerated track. Referral for treatment was the most common education provided, and information related to injection drug use was the least commonly taught education.

CONCLUSIONS

Targeted training increased the number of harm reduction options nursing students presented to people with SUD in the clinical setting.