610 Final Pitch Presentation12.8.24

Chapter 1: Introduction

• Importance of Funding Training

  • Harm reduction service delivery is crucial for community members dealing with opioid use disorder (OUD).

  • Emphasis on enhancing harm reduction services at the hospital through academic medical center integration.

• Training Clinical Social Workers

  • Goal: Equip social workers with a common language to discuss harm reduction.

  • Importance of being harm reduction ambassadors in the academic medical center.

  • Example given: Ability to explain harm reduction in a concise manner to unrelated professionals (e.g., chief of surgery).

• Community Coordination of Care

  • Acknowledgment of the mutual interaction and reliance between the hospital and community service.

  • Training serves as the first step to improve overall services.

• Curriculum Overview

  • Launched initiative titled "The Opioid Overdose Epidemic: Reason for Optimism."

  • Focus on understanding the scope of the opioid overdose public health emergency.

  • Training sessions scheduled for February 2025, occurring weekly on Mondays.

Chapter 2: Final Training Session

• Role of Key Figures

  • Dr. Robert Jones (Chief of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine) to acknowledge social workers' efforts and importance of their roles.

  • Sue Smith (Director of Behavioral Health Care) to facilitate training due to her existing rapport with the social workers.

• Training Logistics

  • Coffee and breakfast provided to encourage attendance.

  • Immediate post-session anonymous surveys for feedback to enhance future sessions.

  • Pretest completed by social workers prior to the first session; posttest after the third with an 80% pass rate.

• Session Agenda

  • Icebreaker: Discuss collective experiences of social workers during COVID-19 and its intersection with OUD.

  • Focus areas include understanding the overdose epidemic within the context of COVID-19 impacts.

Chapter 3: Clinical Social Workers

• Icebreaker Activity

  • Social workers share personal narratives regarding their experiences during COVID and the overdose epidemic.

  • Questions to facilitate discussion topics include:

    • Observations of inequities in healthcare access and health disparities during COVID.

    • Strategies used to enhance healthcare access amidst challenges.

• Training Design

  • Interactive approach to leverage social workers' clinical experiences to facilitate learning.

  • Bullet points on slides intended to spark robust discussions among participants.

• Impact of COVID-19

  • Recognition of the trauma experienced by social workers and clients during the pandemic.

  • Focus on data from the opioid overdose epidemic being exacerbated by COVID-19 challenges.

Chapter 4: Whole Entire Health Care System

• Key Statistics

  • 82% of overdose deaths involved opioids, with illicit fentanyl implicated in three-quarters of those deaths.

  • Lethal illicit fentanyl attributed to high death rates, especially among males aged 35 to 44 and specific ethnic groups.

• Legislative Changes

  • Pre-COVID access barriers for treatment persistence; mention of x waivers and initial in-person appointments.

  • Positive changes implemented during COVID to enhance access to evidence-based treatment will be highlighted.

• Emphasis on Local Context

  • Addressing local editions of substance use rates to ensure relevance in training material.

  • Mention of the high misuse rates of illicit fentanyl versus prescribed medications.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

• Final Reflection

  • Review of local and national rates of substance use, with specific focus on Louisianan demographics.

  • Key take-home points reiterated to ensure solid understanding.

• Wrap Up

  • Encourage follow-up questions and remind participants of post-training survey importance.

  • Call to action for continued support in harm reduction efforts and open communication for feedback and queries.