Empowering Future Physicians: Enhancing Naloxone Competency Through Early Harm Reduction Training in Medical...

With increasing rates of fatal opioid overdoses and substance use disorders, discussing harm reduction strategies in undergraduate medical education is imperative. Medical students learn opioid pharmacology but often lack adequate training in recognizing and responding to opioid overdoses. Incorporating naloxone training into preclinical undergraduate medical education can be lifesaving.

This educational activity trained second-year medical students in opioid overdose recognition and response. The 2-hour interactive session included an informative presentation on opioid use statistics, harm reduction, and opioid overdose; a case-based learning session; and hands-on practice on task trainers using an OSCE-style checklist. Student confidence in four areas was assessed through pre- and posttraining surveys on 5-point Likert scales. Data analysis was conducted using R (programming language), with exploratory analyses for sample size, normality, and variable selection. The Wilcoxon signed rank test evaluated changes in attitudes from pre- to posttest.

Eighty-six students participated, with 60 completing pre- and posttest surveys. Significant improvements were observed in confidence across all areas: assessing an opioid overdose (p < .001), administering naloxone (p < .001), continuing management after naloxone (p < .001), and training others on naloxone administration (p < .001).

Early training in opioid overdose management increased second-year medical students' confidence in key areas, potentially enabling them to better combat the crisis during their clinical years and educate at-risk patients. Future activities should incorporate objective skill assessments to evaluate competency and explore long-term knowledge retention during clinical rotations.