Background: Naloxone is a medication that reverses opioid overdose in emergency situations and prevents deaths. A group of 55 Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) medical students were trained by REVIVE!, a program that educates on how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose emergency with the administration of naloxone. We evaluated whether there is [...]

Background: What happens when “best practice” is not practiced? Prescribing naloxone to patients at high risk of opioid overdose is considered best practice by the United States Department of Health in order to decrease the risk of overdose and maximize patient safety. Research also shows that patients who receive naloxone may successfully use it on [...]

Background: Opioid overdose in the United States continues to rise. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that is FDA-approved for reversing opioid overdose. Current CDC guidelines recommend prescribing naloxone to patients at high risk of opioid overdose, including patients with concurrent benzodiazepine use, a prior history of overdose, and those receiving high doses of opioids (>50 [...]

Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic relapsing disease that has become an epidemic in the United States. Overdoses of prescription and illicit opioids have killed almost 450,000 Americans between 1999-2018 (1). Guidelines on OUD management recommend, in combination with behavioral therapy, opioid agonist therapy as the first-line treatment option with antagonist therapy as an alternative option. OUD-related inpatient admissions represent [...]