General

Medical providers may have the opportunity to maximize patient quality of life by providing prescription opioids, yet those same medicines have contributed to the fact that drug overdose has overtaken motor vehicle crashes to be the #1 cause of injury death in the United States. Providers can consider taking the stance of “risky medicines”, instead of “risky patients” and engage in proactive dialogue with patients to minimize poisoning, over sedation, and overdose risk with patients who need opioid medications to improve function. Discussing an emergency overdose/poisoning/oversedation plan and naloxone prescribing is an essential component of that dialogue. We provide some sample documents that may facilitate the process.

Continuing Education Resources

Center for Disease Control and Prevention:
Naloxone Training | Opioids | CDC

This training can be completed in a single one-hour module, or as mini-modules and patient cases.

Upon completion, continuing education credits may be earned.

SCOPE of Pain:
Overdose Prevention and Naloxone Rescue Kits for Prescribers and Pharmacists

To receive CNE, CME, or ACPE, complete the test and evaluation. Note: you must score 70% or higher to receive credit.

Overdose Risk and Patient History

Review medications
Take a substance use history
Check the prescription monitoring program.
Take an overdose history – Ask your patient whether they have:
- Overdosed or had a bad reaction to taking opioid medications?
- Witnessed an overdose?
- Received training to prevent, recognize, or respond to an overdose or medication-related oversedation?

Prescribing Various Naloxone Products

This chart describes product comparison, prescribing variation and ordering information:

Instructions for Prescribing and Dispensing Naloxone

Prescription & dispensing instructions for injectable naloxone with tear-off patient instructions

Prescription & dispensing instructions for nasal naloxone with tear-off patient instructions

Clinician Guidance

Here are examples of clinician materials to support and encourage naloxone rescue kit prescribing. These examples reflect variance in prescribing guidelines and inclusion criteria. We recommend that you adapt these examples to the needs of your clinical practice.