VA equips 200,000 Veterans with lifesaving naloxone

More than 200,000 veterans received naloxone, a pharmaceutical used to block the potentially deadly effects of opioids, through the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone (OEND) effort. The OEND program is multidisciplinary and focuses on vulnerable populations with educational efforts and Naloxone.

Preventing Opioid Diversion and Abuse by Using an At-home Opioid Disposal Method: An Improvement Project in a Pediatric Outpatient Surgical Center

Providing an at-home disposal product is a viable method of encouraging proper disposal of unused opioids. The combined cost of the disposal packet plus the instructional flyer was $1.90 per patient. Additional efforts are being undertaken to evaluate whether follow-up reminder calls at 2 weeks can be simplified to be included in the postoperative follow-up call to increase parent/guardian adherence.