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Halting a Crisis: AMA Advocacy Week Champions Narcan Training

This article is the 18th in a series about the epidemic of opioid addiction and how NEOMED is training future physicians and pharmacists to help.

Varun Aitharaju remembers the first time he witnessed a drug overdose.

“When I saw someone passed out on the street, likely due to an opioid overdose, I was confused and felt helpless,” he recalls.

After attending a Narcan training at Northeast Ohio Medical University along with 60 other students from the College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy, the first-year medicine student said, “I feel better equipped to help if a similar situation were to arise in the future.”

As future health professionals, it is important to recognize that the opioid epidemic has taken many lives, especially in the state of Ohio. The National Institutes of Health states that Ohio has the second highest rate of drug overdose deaths involving opioids in the U.S. And as co-presidents of the American Medical Association­/Ohio State Medical Association Medical Students Section at NEOMED, we felt strongly about the importance of participating in Narcan training this November as part of AMA Advocacy week.

The training was hosted by the AMA/OSMA, in conjunction with Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided With Naloxone) from the Summit County Health Department.

Increasing awareness, decreasing stigma

By now, Narcan (the brand name for naloxone) has become widely accepted as a tool to reduce overdoses. At this training, students learned how to use Narcan in an emergency situation. Everyone learned how to recognize the signs and symptoms of overdose, perform rescue breathing and administer intranasal naloxone in the setting of an overdose.

The drug is administered intranasally (through the nose) and can be administered by anyone, but many may not know how to get access to naloxone. There is stigma associated with obtaining naloxone, as some may perceive that it enables opioid use.

Furthermore, there is a lack of education on how to administer naloxone – which is actually pretty simple. In fact, there is no harm in administering Narcan to someone who is not experiencing an opioid overdose. Increasing awareness and decreasing the stigma around drug use can be very beneficial and improve the effectiveness of Narcan.

Sanjana states, “Narcan training has helped me be better prepared to serve my community in the event of an opioid overdose that I may encounter as a medical student or future physician. Since attending the Narcan training last year, I have kept a Narcan kit in my apartment and feel well trained to recognize and treat an overdose.”

Kajal reflects, “I think an important message of this training is to realize that addiction is a disease. It is not a choice, and Narcan can provide individuals with a second chance. This will not solve the opioid epidemic, but it can save lives. I think it was a great opportunity for students to learn a little more about the opioid epidemic and how to use Narcan, and we are hoping that AMA/OSMA can host another Narcan training next semester.”

Sanjana Datla (left) and Kajal Madan (right), second-year College of Medicine students and co-presidents of the NEOMED student chapter of the American Medical Association, contributed this article.