840
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
REVIEW

The Role of the Pharmacist in Combating the Opioid Crisis: An Update

, , , & ORCID Icon
Pages 127-138 | Received 21 Jun 2022, Accepted 20 Dec 2022, Published online: 28 Dec 2022

References

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Understanding the epidemic. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic. Accessed May 17, 2022.
  • Azadfard M, Huecker MR, Leaming JM. Opioid addiction. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK448203/. Accessed December 20, 2022.
  • United States Department of Health and Human Services. Opioid crisis statistics. Available from: https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-The-epidemic/opioid-crisis-statistics/. Accessed June 14, 2022.
  • National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Opioid overdose crisis. Available from: https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis. Accessed May 17, 2022.
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Available from: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/report/2020-nsduh-annual-national-report. Accessed June 15, 2022.
  • Ferries E, Racsa P, Bizzell B, Rhodes C, Suehs B. Removal of prior authorization for medication-assisted treatment: impact on opioid use and policy implications in a Medicare Advantage population. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2021;27(5):596–606. doi:10.18553/jmcp.2021.27.5.596
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug overdose deaths in the US top 100,000 annually. Opioid overdose crisis. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm. Accessed May 17, 2022.
  • Brooklyn JR, Sigmon SC. Vermont hub-and-spoke model of care for opioid use disorder: development, implementation, and impact. J Addict Med. 2017;11(4):286–292. doi:10.1097/ADM.0000000000000310
  • Ford JH, Gilson A, Mott DA. Systematic analysis of the service process and the legislative and regulatory environment for a pharmacist-provided naltrexone injection service in Wisconsin. Pharmacy. 2019;7(2):59. doi:10.3390/pharmacy7020059
  • Lofwall MR, Fanucchi LC. Long-acting buprenorphine injectables: opportunity to improve opioid use disorder treatment among rural populations. Prev Med. 2021;152(Pt 2):106756. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106756
  • Wartenweiler V, Chung G, Stewart A, Wenthur C. Pharmacy stakeholder reports on ethical and logistical considerations in anti-opioid vaccine development. BMC Med Ethics. 2021;22(1):30. doi:10.1186/s12910-021-00599-2
  • Callister C, Lockhart S, Holtrop JS, Hoover K, Calcaterra SL. Experiences with an addiction consultation service on care provided to hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder: a qualitative study of hospitalists, nurses, pharmacists, and social workers. Subst Abus. 2022;43(1):615–622. doi:10.1080/08897077.2021.1975873
  • Schlesinger EB, Germinn W, Hohmeier KC, Burley HL. Development and implementation of Tennessee nonresidential buprenorphine treatment guidelines. Innov Pharm. 2018;9(3):1–4. doi:10.24926/iip.v9i3.1317
  • Slavova S, Rock P, Bush HM, Quesinberry D, Walsh SL. Signal of increased opioid overdose during COVID-19 from emergency medical services data. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020;214:108176. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108176
  • Ochalek TA, Cumpston KL, Wills BK, Gal TS, Moeller FG. Nonfatal opioid overdoses at an urban emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA. 2020;324(16):1673–1674. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.17477
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Available from: https://www.samhsa.gov/medication-assisted-treatment. Accessed May 17, 2022.
  • Calcaterra SL, Bach P, Chad A, et al. Methadone matters: what the United States can learn from the global effort to treat opioid addiction. J Gen Int Med. 2019;34(6):1039–1042. doi:10.1007/s11606-018-4801-3
  • Li X, Shorter D, Kosten T. Buprenorphine prescribing: to expand or not to expand. J Psychiatr Pract. 2016;22(3):183–192. doi:10.1097/PRA.0000000000000154
  • Cochran G, Bruneau J, Cox N, Gordon AJ. Medication treatment for opioid use disorder and community pharmacy: expanding care during a national epidemic and global pandemic. Subst Abuse. 2020;41(3):269–274. doi:10.1080/08897077.2020.1787300
  • Acquisto NM, Coralic Z. In the midst of an opioid epidemic: pharmacists on the frontline of substance use disorder treatment. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2021;78(4):277–278. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxaa410
  • Peckham AM, Ball J, Colvard MD, et al. Leveraging pharmacists to maintain and extend buprenorphine supply for opioid use disorder amid COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2021;78(7):613–618. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxab003
  • Hill CE, Knox S, Thompson BJ, et al. Consensual qualitative research: an update. J Couns Psychol. 2005;52(2):196–205. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.196
  • Goldman AH, Johnson DD, Griffis CE, Land V, Balazs GC. Opioid prescribing in the U.S. Military Health System, 2014 to 2018: fewer prescriptions, fewer pills, and shorter treatment duration. Pain. 2022;163(1):e87–e93. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002313
  • Bryan K, Menighan TE. What does good pharmacist-physician pain management collaboration look like? AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E675–E680. doi:10.1001/amajethics.2020.675
  • Gregory T, Gregory L. The role of pharmacists in safe opioid dispensing. J Pharm Pract. 2020;33(6):856–862. doi:10.1177/0897190019852803
  • Gessner GH, Jung J, Cook HE, et al. Implementation of postoperative standard opioid prescribing schedules reduces opioid prescriptions without change in patient-reported pain outcomes. Urology. 2021;148:126–133. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2020.11.009
  • Langley PC. Meeting physician compliance recommendations in the management of opioids in chronic pain: the chronic pain management registry (CPMR). Innov Pharm. 2019;10(1):13. doi:10.24926/iip.v10i1.1629
  • Lovecchio F, Premkumar A, Stepan JG, Albert TJ. Fighting back: institutional strategies to combat the opioid epidemic: a systematic review. HSS J. 2019;15(1):66–71. doi:10.1007/s11420-018-09662-y
  • Vascimini A, Duane K, Curtis S. System intervention in community pharmacy setting: leading to better patient care through reducing harm associated with coprescribing benzodiazepines and opioids. J Opioid Manag. 2021;17(6):445–453. doi:10.5055/jom.2021.0679
  • Elhage SA, Thielen ON, Huber AT, et al. Preoperative patient opioid education, standardization of prescriptions, and their impact on overall patient satisfaction. Surgery. 2021;169(3):655–659. doi:10.1016/j.surg.2020.09.013
  • Togun AT, Karaca-Mandic P, Wurtz R, et al. Association of 3 CDC opioid prescription guidelines for chronic pain and 2 payer pharmacy coverage changes on opioid initiation practices. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2021;27(10):1352–1364. doi:10.18553/jmcp.2021.27.10.1352
  • Penm J, MacKinnon NJ, Boone JM, et al. Strategies and policies to address the opioid epidemic: a case study of Ohio. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2017;57(2S):S148–S153. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2017.01.001
  • Strand MA, Eukel H, Burck S. Moving opioid misuse prevention upstream: a pilot study of community pharmacists screening for opioid misuse risk. Res Soc Admin Pharm. 2019;15(8):1032–1036. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2018.07.011
  • Thakur T, Chewning B. Pharmacists opioid risk and safety counseling practices: a latent class analysis approach. Res Soc Admin Pharm. 2022;18(6):3013–3018. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.07.023
  • Shafer E, Bergeron N, Smith-Ray R, et al. A nationwide pharmacy chain responds to the opioid epidemic. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2003;57(2S):S123–S129. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2016.12.075
  • Green TC, Soipe A, Baloy B, et al. Pharmacy on-site overdose protocols and prevention of overdose. Subst Abus. 2022;43(1):64–68. doi:10.1080/08897077.2020.1736236
  • Cochran G, Winhusen JT. Validation of a community pharmacy-based prescription drug monitoring program risk screening tool (PHARMSCREEN) (NIH HEAL Initiative)|National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Available from: https://nida.nih.gov/organization/cctn/ctn/research-studies/validation-community-pharmacy-based-prescription-drug-monitoring-program-risk-screening-tool. Accessed June 6, 2022.
  • Wu LT. Integrating pharmacy-based prevention and treatment of opioid and other substance use disorders: a survey of pharmacists and stakeholders (CTN-0105) (NIH HEAL Initiative). Available from: https://nida.nih.gov/about-nida/organization/cctn/ctn/research-studies/integrating-pharmacy-based-prevention-treatment-opioid-other-substance-use-disorders-survey. Accessed June 6, 2022.
  • Kenney A, Cox N, Bryan MA, Cochran G. Brief intervention medication therapy management: establishment of an opioid misuse intervention model delivered in a community pharmacy. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2021;78:310–319. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxaa389
  • Reif S, Creedon TB, Horgan CM, et al. Commercial health plan coverage of selected treatments for opioid use disorders from 2003–2014. J Psychoactive Drugs. 2017;49(2):102–110. doi:10.1080/02791072.2017.1300360
  • Griffith KN, Feyman Y, Auty SG, Crable EL, Levengood TW. Implications of county-level variation in US opioid distribution. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021;219:108501. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108501
  • Schieber LZ, Guy GP, Seth P, Young R. Trends and patterns of geographic variation in opioid prescribing practices by State, United States, 2006–2017. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(3):e190665. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.0665
  • Gadd S, Cox N, Samuelson J, Kenney A, Turner K, Cochran G. Abuse-deterrent Opioid formulations and the opioid crisis: a pharmacist’s perspective. [Review]. Ther Drug Monit. 2021;43(1):35–41. doi:10.1097/FTD.0000000000000844
  • Wickramatilake S, Zur J, Mulvaney-Day N, Klimo MC, Selmi E, Harwood H. How states are tackling the opioid crisis. Public Health Rep. 2017;132(2):171–179. doi:10.1177/0033354916688206
  • Al-Samawy S, Varughese N, Vaillancourt R, Wang XYW, Penm J. A global survey on opioid stewardship practices in hospitals: a cross-sectional pilot study. Pharmacy. 2021;9(3):122. doi:10.3390/pharmacy9030122
  • Price ET. Demonstrated value in the public health arena: pharmacist roles in addressing the current opioid crisis. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2017;57(5):566–567. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2017.08.005
  • Xu J, Murkerjee S. State laws that authorize pharmacists to prescribe naloxone are associated with increased naloxone dispensing in retail pharmacies. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021;227:109012. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109012
  • Cochran G, Field C, Karp J, et al. A community pharmacy intervention for opioid medication misuse: a pilot randomized clinical trial. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2018;58(4):395–403. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2018.03.005
  • Bach P, Hartung D. Leveraging the role of community pharmacists in the prevention, surveillance, and treatment of opioid use disorders. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2019;14(1):30. doi:10.1186/s13722-019-0158-0
  • Manolakis PG, Skelton JB. Pharmacists’ contributions to primary care in the United States collaborating to address unmet patient care needs: the emerging role for pharmacists to address the shortage of primary care providers. Am J Pharm Educ. 2010;74(10):S7. doi:10.5688/aj7410s7
  • Kelling SE. Exploring accessibility of community pharmacy services. Innov Pharm. 2015;6(3). doi:10.24926/iip.v6i3.392
  • Palombi L, Hawthorne AN, Lunos S, Melgaard K, Dahly A, Blue H. Community pharmacist utilization of legislation that allows impact on the opioid crisis in the state of Minnesota: a mixed-methods approach. J Pharm Pract. 2020;33(6):799–808. doi:10.1177/0897190019841747
  • Rogala BG, Jarvais A, Ng T, Bratberg J. Prescriber and pharmacist understanding of revised Rhode Island pain management regulations. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2021;27(3):601–608. doi:10.1177/1078155220929057
  • Thornton JD, Anyanwu P, Tata V, Al Rawwad T. Differences between pharmacists’ perception of counseling and practice in the era of prescription drug misuse. Pharm Pract. 2020;18(1):1682. doi:10.18549/PharmPract.2020.1.1682
  • Samaha NT, Vanier MC, David PM. Pharmaceutical practices before and throughout the opioid crisis: a scoping review. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2020;60:e375ee387. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2020.03.026
  • Vadiei N, Eldridge LA, Meyerson BE, Agley J. “The gatekeepers in prevention”: community pharmacist perceptions of their role in the opioid epidemic. Subst Abuse. 2021;43(1):319–327. doi:10.1080/08897077.2021.1941516
  • Thakur T, Frey M, Chewning B. Pharmacist services in the opioid crisis: current practices and scope in the United States. Pharmacy. 2019;7:60. doi:10.3390/pharmacy7020060
  • Rao D, Gianetti V, Kamal KM, Covvey JR, Tomko JR. Pharmacist views regarding the prescription opioid epidemic. Subst Use Misuse. 2021;56(14):2096–2105. doi:10.1080/10826084.2021.1968434
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs. Life-saving naloxone from pharmacies. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/naloxone. Accessed May 31, 2022.
  • Roberts AW, Carpenter DM, Smith A, Look KA. Reviewing state-mandated training requirements for naloxone-dispensing pharmacists. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2019;15(2):222–225. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2018.04.002
  • McQuillan A. Clinical pharmacist involvement in expanding naloxone distribution in a veteran population. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2022;79:472–476. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxab424
  • Thornton JD, Lyvers E, Scott VG, Dwibedi N. Pharmacists’ readiness to provide naloxone in community pharmacies in West Virginia. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2017;57(2Suppl):S12–S18.e4. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2016.12.070
  • Cooper HL, Cloud DH, Freeman PR, et al. Buprenorphine dispensing in an epicenter of the US opioid epidemic: a case study of the rural risk environment in Appalachian Kentucky. Int J Drug Policy. 2020;85:102701. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102701
  • Balough MM, Nwankpa S, Unni EJ. Readiness of pharmacists based in Utah about pain management and opioid dispensing. Pharmacy. 2019;7(1):11. doi:10.3390/pharmacy7010011
  • Cernasev A, Deselle S, Hohmeier KC, et al. Pharmacy technicians, stigma, and compassion fatigue: front-line perspectives of pharmacy and the US opioid epidemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(12):6231. doi:10.3390/ijerph18126231
  • Hall EA, Cernasev A, Nasritdinova U, et al. Stigma of opioid use disorder and its indirect effects on student pharmacists’ perceptions and attitudes. Pharmacy. 2020;8(3):144. doi:10.3390/pharmacy8030144
  • Werremeyer A, Skoy E, Marvanova M, et al. A PharmD program curricular approach to addressing the opioid crisis. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2019;11(6):592–602. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2019.02.026
  • Skoy E, Eukel H, Frenzel J, Werremeyer A. Preparing student pharmacists to identify opioid misuse, prevent overdose and prescribe naloxone. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2019;11(5):522–527. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2019.02.013
  • Pruskowski J, Childers J, Moore PA, et al. Managing acute pain and opioid risks following wisdom teeth extraction: an illustrative case. Med Ed PORTAL. 2019;15:10855. doi:10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10855
  • Murnane KS, Augustine JM, Quesnel M, Marshall L, Strom JG. A classroom activity to increase student pharmacists confidence in dealing with the opioid epidemic. Am J Pharm Educ. 2019;83(9):7199. doi:10.5688/ajpe7199
  • Thomas S, Holm S, Feltman C, Rich AJ, Brooks MJ. Promoting interprofessional student outcomes through the narrative of an opioid use disorder survivor. Physiother Theory Pract. 2021;1–11. doi:10.1080/09593985.2021.1934919
  • Renfro ML, Moczygemba LR, Baumgartner J, Baumgart G, Hill LG. Opioid-related education provided by continuing education divisions at US pharmacy schools. Am J Pharm Educ. 2020;84(10):ajpe8001. doi:10.5688/ajpe8001
  • Palombi LC, LaRue A, Fierke KK. Facilitating community partnerships to reduce opioid overdose: an engaged department initiative. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2019;15(12):1406–1414. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2018.07.002
  • Delcher C, Harris DR, Park C, Strickler GK, Talbert J, Freeman PR. Doctor and pharmacy shopping: a fading signal for prescription opioid use monitoring? Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021;221:108618. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108618
  • Dodson ZM, Enki Yoo E-H, Martin-Gill C, Roth R. Spatial methods to enhance public health surveillance and resource deployment in the opioid epidemic. Am J Public Health. 2018;108(9):1191–1196. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108618
  • Zhao H, Muthupaandi S, Kumara S. Managing illicit online pharmacies: web analytics and predictive models study. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22(8):e17239. doi:10.2196/17239