Naloxone project

Overview

In Australia, accidental prescription opioid overdose deaths have risen by an average of 7% per year from 2001 to 2012, with prescription opioids contributing to 75 hospitalisations and 2 deaths every day. Opioid overdose can be prevented through the administration of naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug available as an intramuscular injection or intranasal spray. Naloxone is available in Victoria via prescription from a doctor or via a pharmacist without a prescription.

The provision of naloxone may be particularly useful when paired with patient information and education about safe opioid use and overdose prevention. However, current overdose prevention materials are typically designed for the needs and contexts of people who use heroin or other illicit opioids and are unlikely to be appropriate for people who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Additionally, despite being an important point of contact, there are few resources and tools to support pharmacists to provide overdose prevention information to these people.

This project used a co-design approach to enhance the capacity of pharmacists to provide overdose prevention information to people prescribed opioids for chronic pain, by developing an educational poster and brief training animation for pharmacists, and an information leaflet and brief animation for patients.