Dear HIFA colleagues,
Here is another interesting study from the United States, and a comment from me below.
CITATION: Ann Med. 2024 Dec;56(1):2399316. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2024.2399316. Epub 2024 Sep 5.
Knowledge of medications for opioid use disorder and associated stigma among primary care professionals
Hannah Piscalko et al.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39234650/
ABSTRACT
Background: Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are the gold standard. However, significant barriers limit their use in the primary care setting, including limited knowledge of the medications and stigmatizing attitudes. In this study, we assess knowledge levels among primary care-aligned professionals (PCPs) currently in practice, and whether knowledge of MOUD is associated with stigma and treatment attitudes.
Participants and methods: Using rosters from the state of Ohio licensing boards, we surveyed 403 physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician associates...
Results: 43% of participants correctly identified the mechanism of all 3 medications whereas 13% of participants did not identify the mechanism of any MOUD correctly. MOUD knowledge was higher among physicians as compared to nurse practitioners and physician associates. Lower MOUD knowledge was associated with more negative attitudes towards patients with OUD and MOUD treatment.
Conclusion: Expanding access to MOUD treatment requires a trained and willing health-care professional (HCP) workforce. Our findings highlight considerable variation in clinician knowledge of MOUD and suggest that knowledge levels are also related to negative attitudes towards patients with OUD and MOUD. Training interventions that increase knowledge, as well as focus on stigma reduction, are critical for reducing the longstanding treatment gap for opioid use disorder.
COMMENT (NPW): It's curious that the researchers focused on knowledge about the mechanism of action of the different drugs used to manage opioid use disorder. An alternative (more pragmatic?) approach might have been to assess the PCPs' ability to 'do the right thing' at the point of care when addressing a patient with opioid use disorder. Understanding the mechanism of action is an important, but perhaps not the most important, piece of knowledge in delivering evidence-informed care.
I look forward to your comments to: hifa@hifaforums.org
Many thanks, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org