The Complexity of Educating Acute Care Nurses on Opioid Use Disorder: A Quality Improvement Project

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine

Background:

• Opioid use disorder (OUD) presents a significant public health challenge.
• Acute care nurses often lack specialized education for evidence-based OUD care.
• Hospitalizations offer a critical window for initiating OUD care for medical-surgical patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of an educational program on medical-surgical nurses' self-reported competencies in caring for patients with OUD.
• To assess changes in nurses' knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding OUD care at a Midwestern academic medical center.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project utilized a survey to measure self-reported nurse competencies before and after an educational intervention.
• Competencies assessed included OUD assessment, intervention, treatment recommendation, resource utilization, beliefs, and attitudes.
• Data were collected at two time points from nurses who received the intervention and a control group.

Main Results:

• While resource use scores showed a statistically significant increase over time (p = .006), overall mean total scores for nurse competencies did not improve significantly between initial and later measurements (p = .09).
• Nurses who directly received the educational program did not demonstrate improved mean total scores compared to those who did not (p = .30).
• The intervention group's mean total score was 3.52, while the control group's was 3.63.

Conclusions:

• Educational programs alone were insufficient to enhance the self-reported competencies of medical-surgical nurses in managing patients with OUD.
• Findings highlight the need for comprehensive strategies beyond basic education to improve OUD care.
• Future efforts should focus on increasing nurse knowledge, understanding, and reducing stigma and discriminatory practices in OUD care.