Faculty Bibliography

Intro/Background: Opioid-related emergency department (ED) visits continue to rise at an alarming rate with 5% annual mortality observed among overdose survivors. Mortality was 60% lower among those receiving pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorder (OUD) in the subsequent year; however, only 1/3 did. Despite D'Onofrio's landmark study demonstrating that initiating buprenorphine and referral in the ED for treatment for OUD is feasible, highly effective, and cost-effective, this life-saving medication is rarely initiated in EDs. Purpose/Objective: Barriers to treatment exist at the patient, provider, and systems levels and include longstanding practice norms, limited experience using medications whose properties are often misunderstood, and the impact stigma has on patients seeking and providers offering treatment. We developed and piloted an experiential education session to mitigate these barriers and increase the likelihood that emergency providers will initiate buprenorphine for patients with OUD in the ED.
Method(s): We created a three case Group Objective Structured Clinical Examination (GOSCE) using standardized patients (SPs) trained to portray three commonly encountered patients with OUD. One participant interacts with one SP (8-10 minutes) while two other participants observe with a faculty member, followed by a 20 minute debrief. Participants are tasked to: a) Assess for ED-initiated buprenorphine and b) Discuss the patients' substance use; provide counseling and education where appropriate. Participants completed pre/post-GOSCE surveys. Outcomes (if available): Thirty-nine emergency medicine providers completed the GOSCE. Prior to the session, 50% had never administered buprenorphine to any patient, 35% in 1-2 patients, and 14% in 3 or more patients. Participants reported an increase in comfort administering buprenorphine comparing pre- and post OSCE surveys; 3.81 to 8.03 respectively (1 = not comfortable, 10 = very comfortable), p<0.001. Reported comfort discussing substance use disorders trended positively from 6.94 to 8.29 without achieving statistical significance.
Summary: It is paramount that emergency medicine providers use all available tools and skills to address the current opioid epidemic. Despite evidence of the benefit of buprenorphine, it remains severely underutilized in the ED. Nationally only 0.9% of emergency physicians are X-waivered to prescribe buprenorphine. In our cohort, 50% had never administered buprenorphine to any ED patient. The primary goal of this experiential education session was to increase the likelihood that emergency providers will administer and initiate BUP treatment for patients with OUD in the ED. The three unique cases provided an intense simulated experience each with challenges often faced in the ED. Case 1: 28 year old man who is anxious to leave the ED after emerging from an opioid overdose after treatment with intranasal naloxone by EMS; Case 2: 35 year old man requesting detox admission from "Oxy"; Case 3: 24 year old woman who is requesting/demanding opioid pain medication after drainage of an abscess resulting from injection drug use. The structured debrief focused on enhancing emergency providers' ability to properly screen and treat patients with buprenorphine as well as improving communication skills discussing OUD. Our results demonstrated that the GOSCE effectively increased providers' reported comfort administering buprenorphine. Qualitative data suggests the session helped facilitate the use of non-stigmatizing language when discussing OUD, acquire strategies on how to discuss buprenorphine and OUD, and positively changed perceptions of buprenorphine & OUD. Participants also found it useful to have difficult patient conversations in the simulation followed by immediate constructive feedback in the debrief. Future study includes examining performance of participants rated by SPs, assessing self-reported comfort and rates of buprenorphine initiation among trainees at six months following the GOSCE. Also, we will track global and individual provider rates of buprenorphine administration and prescribing in our EDs through electronic health record abstraction

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:In response to the opioid epidemic and efforts to expand substance use education in medical school, the authors introduced opioid overdose prevention training (OOPT) with naloxone for all first-year medical students (MS1s) as an adjunct to required basic life support training (BLST). The authors previously demonstrated improved knowledge and preparedness following in-person OOPT with BLST; however, it remains unclear whether online-administered OOPT would produce comparable results. In this study, the authors perform a retrospective comparison of online-administered OOPT with in-person-administered OOPT. OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:To compare the educational outcomes: knowledge, preparedness, and attitudes, for online versus in-person OOPT. METHODS:In-person OOPT was administered in 2014 and 2015 during BLST, whereas online OOPT was administered in 2016 during BLST pre-work. MS1s completed pre- and post-training tests covering 3 measures: knowledge (11-point scale), attitudes (66-point scale), and preparedness (60-point scale) to respond to an opioid overdose. Online scores from 2016 and in-person scores from 2015 were compared across all 3 measures using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) methods. RESULTS:After controlling for pre-test scores, there were statistical, but no meaningful, differences across all measures for in-person- and online-administered training. The estimated differences were knowledge: -0.05 (0.5%) points (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.47, 0.36); attitudes: 0.65 (1.0%) points (95% CI: -0.22, 1.51); and preparedness: 2.16 (3.6%) points (95% CI: 1.04, 3.28). CONCLUSIONS:The educational outcomes of online-administered OOPT compared with in-person-administered OOPT were not meaningfully different. These results support the use of online-administered OOPT. As our study was retrospective, based on data collected over multiple years, further investigation is needed in a randomized controlled setting, to better understand the educational differences of in-person and online training. Further expanding OOPT to populations beyond medical students would further improve generalizability.

Background: The growing opioid overdose epidemic has grappled the nation with the CDC now reporting that drug overdose deaths have become the most common cause of death for young people. Medical education has historically ignored substance use disorders, and though they generally require all medical students to learn basic life support, they have not taught how to respond to opioid overdoses. Further, medical education is moving towards modalities which utilize adult learning theory. One such modality are online modules. However, there are few studies comparing their outcomes with traditional lectures. Previously, the authors compared in-person and online training of medical students to respond to opioid overdoses using naloxone in a non-randomized controlled setting, which showed no meaningful differences in knowledge, attitudes, and preparedness outcomes for students. In this paper, the authors attempt to use a randomized controlled trial to compare the two educational modalities at a second urban medical school.
Objective(s): The author's primary objective was to demonstrate non-inferiority of online compared to in-person training for knowledge. Our secondary objective were to show non-inferiority of online compared to in-person training attitudes, and preparedness.
Method(s): Our study received IRB exemption as an education intervention. As a part of a transition to clinical clerkships curriculum used for second year medical students, second year medical students in an urban medical school were randomized into training sessions by the office of medical education without foreknowledge of the planned study. Students taking the online training were provided with a link to online modules with pre- and post-tests and video based lectures. Students randomized to the in-person training group took a pre-test just prior to receiving an oral lecture, and then immediately completed a post-test. Paired student's t-tests were used to compare measurements for each group in knowledge, attitudes, and preparedness, and Cohen's D was used to measure the effect size of the change. We calculated 99% confidence intervals for each measure and utilized a margin of non-inferiority of 5%.
Result(s): The in-person group demonstrated a statistically significant increase in knowledge, a non-statistically significant decrease in self-reported preparedness, and a small non-statistically significant increase in attitudes, see Table 1. The online group demonstrated a statistically significant increase in knowledge and self-reported preparedness, without a statistically significant change in attitudes, see Table 1. 99% CIs were [-0.20, 1.09] for knowledge, [6.51, 10.93] for preparedness, and [-2.32, 1.59] for attitudes, see Figure 1.
Conclusion(s): Online training for opioid overdose prevention training provided non-inferior outcomes for knowledge, preparedness, and attitudes. This study supports the use of online opioid overdose prevention training as a non-inferior alternative to in-person training

BACKGROUND: PCC (Kcentra(R)) is an Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved 4-factor PCC used for the treatment of warfarin-related coagulopathy (WRC), but it has also been used off-label to treat non-WRC. Three-factor PCC in the form of coagulation factor IX human (Bebulin(R)) has also been used for WRC and off-label to treat non-WRC. It is unclear whether the use of 3- or 4-factor PCCs is effective for the treatment of non-WRC,. OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to characterize the use of 3- and 4-factor PCCs for patients identified with a non-WRC. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patients who received PCCs for both WRC and non-WRC between January 2012 and July 2015 was conducted. RESULTS: A total of 187 patients with elevated international normalized ratio (INR) who received PCCs were analyzed; 53.9% of patients in the WRC group and 27.7% in the non-WRC group corrected to an INR of 1.3 or less after 3- or 4-factor PCC administration. In those patients with non-WRC and who had underlying liver disease, 3- and 4-factor PCCs reduced mean INR by 0.98 and 1.43, respectively. CONCLUSION: Three and 4-factor PCCs can reduce INR in patients with WRC and in those with non-WRC secondary to liver disease.

Study Objectives: To help address the growing opioid overdose epidemic and help teach a core toxicological emergency, the authors taught the use of naloxone as an antidote to an opioid overdose, for all first-year medical students as a part of first responder training using cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as an online and in-person training over three years. Previously we demonstrated that in-person opioid overdose prevention training as an adjunct to BLST improves knowledge and preparedness. To compare the educational outcomes; knowledge, preparedness, and attitudes, for online vs in-person opioid overdose prevention training. Methods: Opioid overdose prevention trainings were conducted in person in 2014 and 2015, and online in 2016. First year students completed pre-and post-training surveys covering three measures: knowledge (11-point scale), attitudes (66-point scale) towards patients with opioid use disorders, and self-reported preparedness (60-point scale) to respond to an opioid overdose. Online and in-person scores across all three measures were compared using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) methods across two years of trainings. Results: After controlling for pre-test scores, there were very small and not meaningful differences in attitude and knowledge scores between in-person training and online training. The estimated difference for knowledge was-0.06 (95% CI-0.48-0.35) and for attitudes was 0.64 (95% CI-0.22-1.50). The average scores related to preparedness were higher for the students who took the course online, estimated at 2.10 points (95% CI 0.97-3.22). Feedback was generally positive, with 96% of the in-person group saying future classes should receive the training and 95% of the online group saying all medical schools should provide the training. Conclusions: Online training has become a more common method of medical education due to its many advantages including standardization, scalability and flexibility to accommodate asynchronous learning. However, few studies have performed analyses of online training vs in-person training for relative effectiveness. The authors have demonstrated that for training medical students to administer naloxone as an antidote to an opioid overdose, online training is comparable to in-person training. These results support the use of online training for adding training on administering naloxone

Case Report: A 32-year-old male with a history of depression and systemic lupus erythematosus presented to the emergency department after an intentional overdose of between 30 and 90 tablets (based on pill count) of his 300-mg bupropion XL. Prior to arrival, EMS reported two generalized tonic-clonic seizures, followed by another shortly after presentation, and he was subsequently intubated. Initial vital signs were BP 138/ 62 mmHg; HR 145 beats/min; RR 18/min (ventilator); and O2 94%. His initial EKG showed sinus tachycardia at 148 beats/min, with a QTc of 549 ms. Gastric lavage was performed, without return of discrete pill fragments, and whole bowel irrigation with polyethylene glycol was initiated after administration of activated charcoal. He was noted to have fixed and dilated pupils, without motor activity. He was given a total of 12 mg of lorazepam and then placed on infusions of fentanyl and propofol. Neurology was consulted and a bedside EEG was performed which showed numerous bursts of generalized epileptiform activity and electrographic temporal seizures. He was given a 0.2-mg/kg loading dose of midazolam and 5 g of pyridoxine, with continued titration of the propofol, but no clinical change was observed. Phenobarbital loading was initiated and he was transferred to a tertiary care center. Upon arrival at the receiving hospital, he no longer exhibited seizure activity on EEG, although on physical exam his pupils continued to be fixed and dilated and he demonstrated no corneal or gag reflexes. Over the course of several days, he regained reflexes and began to make purposeful movements, without recurrent seizure activity. He had a prolonged hospital course, attributed to aspiration pneumonia. Five days post presentation, his serum bupropion concentration (drawn at time of transfer) returned at greater than 400 ng/mL (reference range 50 ng/mL). Levels were not trended by the primary team. Conclusions:We present a case of bupropion-related non-convulsive status epilepticus, associated with high serum concentrations refractory to several therapeutic interventions. Given the ubiquity of prescription bupropion for multiple indications, this concerning consequence of overdose should be included in the differential diagnosis of an unresponsive patient

The human monoclonal antibody denosumab inhibits osteoclast-mediated bone resorption by binding to receptor activator of nuclear factor kappaB ligand (RANKL), which is upregulated by tumor cells. Denosumab is indicated to prevent skeletal-related events (SREs) from osteoporosis and metastatic bone disease. We report a case of denosumab-induced hypocalcemia to highlight potential toxicity and treatment considerations. A 66-year-old man with prostate cancer, small cell lung cancer, and bone metastases presented with fatigue, weakness, and muscle spasm. Sixteen days prior, he received cycle 6 of cisplatin and etoposide, leuprolide, and denosumab (120 mg subcutaneously). His examination demonstrated a slight resting tremor, normal strength, and negative Chvostek sign. Laboratory analysis revealed hemoglobin, 8.0 g/dL; total calcium, 5.2 mg/dL (pre-denosumab, 8.9 mg/dL); and magnesium, 0.7 mg/dL. He initially received two units packed red blood cells, intravenous calcium and magnesium, and vitamin D. During his hospitalization, he required multiple doses of intravenous and oral calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Despite ongoing oral supplementation, his post-discharge serum calcium fluctuated significantly, requiring close monitoring and frequent dose adjustments. Denosumab's unique antiresorptive properties yield fewer SREs. The trade-off is increased hypocalcemia risk, which may be severe and require aggressive, prolonged supplementation and monitoring.