News Releases

Hospital Consortium Designing Opioid Education Initiative for Nursing & Frontline Staff

The Education Committee of the Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium is designing a new opioid education initiative aimed at providing support for nursing and frontline staff at area hospitals. The committee, comprised of Opioid Consortium member nursing leaders, came together in mid-April to kick off the new effort. The objective of the initiative is to create a basic structure for opioid education in the areas of:

• Effective communication and care for patients with substance use disorder (SUD).
• Opioid withdrawal risk-assessment tools.
• Managing patients, families and visitors who display difficult behaviors.
• Managing the care of complex patients who present with a medical condition and co-occurring SUD.

To establish a baseline for current nursing and frontline staff opioid education programming and identify unmet needs, a survey of Opioid Consortium hospitals was conducted. Through the survey, information was collected on hospitals’ existing education delivery systems, screening tools, and the types of assessments currently in use. The survey also inquired whether hospitals’ existing education materials are in a format that can be shared among the Opioid Consortium member hospitals. The survey results indicated while all hospital systems are engaged in some level of education, gaps exist and there is a need for additional support.

Based on the information gleaned from the survey, the committee is moving ahead with developing a plan, action steps and deliverables, to create the new opioid education programming. This initiative will rest on the framework of the Opioid Consortium’s Strategic Plan, which is being finalized by the Executive Committee and is expected to roll out to the Opioid Consortium membership in early June.

For more on the opioid education initiative and the Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium, contact us.