Medical Groups Boost Opioid Education Offerings

Medical groups are beefing up their awareness efforts in helping to fight the opioid crisis—and aiming them straight at the community level.

The American Medical Association Alliance, which targets the families of physicians, is launching a new video series called The Opioid Epidemic: Empowering Community Action  (opens in a new tab), which digs into the root causes of the epidemic, while explaining the issues to the broader community. The organization collaborated with ITN Productions to create a series of videos that show off how different parts of the medical field are tackling the crisis at a community level—including universities, diversion control officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration, nurses, and the AMA itself. AMA President Dr. Patrice Harris took part in an interview as part of the series.

“I always say that the solutions that work here in Atlanta, Georgia, may not work best for folks in my home state of West Virginia,” Harris stated in the interview. “So it’s important that there is a local lens to any collaboration or comprehensive solutions to address this issue.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct5v_uwJM4w  (opens in a new tab)

One such video features members of the Emergency Nurses Association, who serve on the front lines of helping to alleviate issues with opioids.

“Without a doubt, opioids are an everyday concern in emergency departments across the United States,” ENA President Patricia Kunz Howard said in a news release  (opens in a new tab).

Building on the efforts of the AMA series, ENA also released a new toolkit  (opens in a new tab) targeted at healthcare professionals that aims to educate and offer resources on tackling dealing with opioid-related issues. Many of the resources are free to ENA members, while flyers and signage are being made available to everyone.

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