CME CATEGORY
• 1.5 Instructional Techniques
• 1 MedicalJust like many things in EMS have changed over the years so have opioid use across the country. This session will discuss these changes from treating opioid overdoses as a simple poisoning call to a chronic medical issue with periods of remission and relapse. It is time to change the stigma and paradigm about OUD and accept this addictive disease is here to stay. By discussing these topics with our EMS staff and students we can start to make the change. As an EMS educator, it is time to meet our staff and students where they are to start this discussion.
At the conclusion of this course, the participant will be able to:
- Describe the neurologic & physiologic changes that take place with an OUD patient (cognitive)
- Discuss what identifies an OUD / SUD patient as a chronic disease patient (cognitive)
- Define addiction (cognitive)
- Define Stigma and what effects it can have on the EMS provider
- Describe Harm reduction strategies for OUD / SUD patients (cognitive)
- Understand the naloxone leave behind kit and protocols that go with it (cognitive)
