Demystifying & Destigmatizing Emergency Department Initiated Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder

Buprenorphine initiated in the Emergency Department (ED) to treat Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is a relatively new strategy. Research demonstrates buprenorphine’s effectiveness in decreasing overdose, death, drug use, HIV/HCV infections and crime while improving treatment engagement and social functioning quality. Pairing referral with an initiation of buprenorphine treatment in the ED demonstrated that patients were twice as likely to be in treatment and reported less illicit drug use at 30-day follow up. We designed a three case Group Objective Structured Clinical Examination (GOSCE) using standardized patients (SPs) trained to use a behavioral anchored checklist and portray three different commonly encountered patients with OUD in the ED. The primary goal of this experiential education activity was to increase the likelihood that Emergency Medicine providers will administer and initiate Buprenorphine treatment for patients with OUD in the ED.