Pathways to Safer Opioid Use
Pathways to Safer Opioid Use is an interactive training that promotes the appropriate, safe, and effective use of opioids to manage chronic pain. It's based on the opioid-related recommendations in the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention (ADE Action Plan).
In this training, you will learn how to:
* Apply health literacy strategies to help patients understand how to prevent opioid-related adverse drug events (ADEs)
* Identify risk factors, opioid medications, and interactions that increase people's risk for opioid-related ADEs
* Use a multidisciplinary, team-based approach for treating patients with chronic pain
* Combine the principles of the Health Literate Care Model and the biopsychosocial model of chronic pain management through case study examples
This training is intended for:
* Physicians, nurses, and pharmacists
* Public healthcare professionals, including health educators and interdisciplinary public healthcare practitioners
* Students in health-related fields
To take the free training, visit: https://health.gov/hcq/training-pathways.asp?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email
Bystanders Save Lives Using Defibrillator for Cardiac Arrest
National Institutes of Health: Quickly shocking the heart with an automated external defibrillator (AED) can save a person's life after cardiac arrest. An AED is a portable, battery-operated device that a bystander can use. It checks the heart rhythm and can send an electric shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm. AEDs are in public places like office buildings, schools, and shopping malls. Experts estimate that each year more than 18,000 Americans have a shockable cardiac arrest outside of a hospital that occurs in public with witnesses.
After a 911 call about cardiac arrest is made, an estimated 4 to 10 minutes may pass before emergency medical services arrive. A research team led by Dr. Myron Weisfeldt of Johns Hopkins University explored whether a significant proportion of lives could be saved if bystanders used AEDs before emergency medical services arrived. The study was funded in part by National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Results appeared online in Circulation.
The team analyzed data collected between 2011 and 2015 from a network of six U.S. and three Canadian regions. During this time, emergency medical services treated nearly 50,000 cardiac arrests outside of a hospital. Of those who had an initially shockable heart rhythm observed in public, 469 (19%) were shocked first by a bystander using an AED and 2,031 were shocked first by emergency medical services.
The analysis showed a greater likelihood of survival when a bystander used AED (67%) rather than wait for emergency medical services to shock the heart (43%). In addition, people were more likely to survive with minimal disability after cardiac arrest (57% for AED from a bystander vs. 33% for AED initiated by emergency medical services). The more time that elapsed before emergency medical services arrived, the larger the benefit of bystanders using an AED.