Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Community Partnerships in Primary Care

New Mexico is currently ranked 17th in the United States for drug overdose death rates. Our project seeks to decrease opioid overdose deaths in a community by increasing the number of patients with naloxone in a local family medicine residency clinic.

We developed a protocol wherein providers asked patients at risk of opioid overdose about naloxone access. Free naloxone was distributed in partner with the county health department, accompanied by teaching of use. We reviewed patient encounters during a 45-day control and study period to measure naloxone possession among patients at risk.

Nearly two-thirds of patients at risk of opioid overdose had no naloxone. A standardized protocol implemented to distribute an opioid reversal agent doubled naloxone prescribed by providers at visits (10.3%) compared to a control period (4.3%), but lacked statistical significance.

Patients in a family medicine residency clinic who were at risk of opioid overdose overwhelmingly did not have naloxone, and a standardized protocol with a community-based partnership increased access to naloxone. Further project data will have implications for ongoing naloxone distribution programs in primary care.