Working Together to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse and Overdose Deaths

Leads:  Gayle Butler, Marina Dykhne, & Mersedeh Hashemian

Key Objective 2:
Educate and train health care professionals, including physicians and pharmacists, on best practice guidelines for safe prescribing and identifying prescription drug misuse through screenings

In addition to educating the community, education and training for health care professionals is also critical given their pivotal role in limiting prescription drug abuse by following safe prescribing practices and better recognizing misuse and addiction.

The Safe Prescribing Pharmacy Practice Action Team and the Safe Prescribing Medical Practice Action Team will:

• Engage key providers and organizations in order to expand the adoption of safe prescribing practices for controlled medications, such as limiting the inappropriate prescribing of long-acting opioid painkillers, limiting opioid prescriptions to a three-day supply as clinically appropriate, and prohibiting refills for lost/stolen prescriptions.
• Ensure that pharmacy and physician providers have the training and tools to detect prescription drug misuse.

Key stakeholder groups may include emergency departments, urgent care clinics, community clinics, health plans, and County health agencies, among others.

SMART Goals:

-  Provide naloxone training to facilitate the furnishing of naloxone from at least 75 pharmacies, including chain pharmacies, throughout

   Los Angeles County by 2020. 
-  In collaboration with the Safe Prescribing Medical Practice Action Team, develop an educational program focused on effectively 

   managing encounters with patients and prescribers related to potential opioid misuse, with the goal to train 120 pharmacists throughout

   Los Angeles County by 2020.