Training medical students in opioid overdose prevention and response: Comparison of In-Person versus online formats

ABSTRACT

Medical education has increasingly shifted towards replacing large lectures with a combination of online and smaller in-person group sessions. This study compares the efficacy of a virtual Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response Training (OOPRT) for first-year medical students with an identical in-person training. During their first unit of medical school, students in the class of 2023 (cohort 1) received OOPRT in-person and students in the class of 2024 (cohort 2) received training via Zoom. Aside from the delivery format, trainings were identical. Both cohorts completed identical surveys at medical school entry and post-training to evaluate knowledge and experiences using the Opioid Overdose Knowledge Scale, Opioid Overdose Attitudes Scale, Medical Conditions Regard Scale, and Naloxone Related Risk Compensation Beliefs. Of 430 students, 84.2% (362: 124 in cohort 1; 238 in cohort 2) completed baseline and post-training surveys. Students reported significantly improved opioid overdose knowledge and attitudes in all 4 knowledge and 3 attitudes subscales after training. Only one outcome differed by training type: knowledge of opioid overdose signs. Cohorts did not differ in opinions of training; 97.2% enjoyed it and 99.4% believed future classes should receive it. Medical students’ attitudes and knowledge significantly improved after OOPRT; only one of 13 outcomes showed a cohort difference. There were no differences in enjoyment, indicating that switching to virtual learning does not undermine the learning experience. Further studies are needed to confirm that these results can be extended to other medical school topics where small group interactive discussion is preferred.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical education
• online learning
• opioid overdose
• medical training

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the staff and students at Wayne State University School of Medicine for supporting the development and distribution of this survey.

Disclosure statement

Faculty effort was supported by the Gertrude Levin Endowed Chair in Addiction and Pain Biology (MKG), Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (Helene Lycaki/Joe Young, Sr. Funds), and Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network. Trainee effort was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award number F30DA052118 (TEHM). On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there are no other conflicts of interest.

Ethical considerations

All study procedures were approved by the administration at the School of Medicine. Ethical approval has been waived for this study. For the in-person training study, the investigators received IRB exemption status (IRB#: 082419B3X) 08/08/2019. For the virtual training study, the investigators received IRB exemption status (IRB#: 20062376) 07/14/2020.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [F30 DA052118].