Browsing by Author "Oliver, Alexander P."

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    Examining the Efficacy of Project ECHO to Improve Clinicians’ Knowledge and Preparedness to Treat Adolescent Vaping
    (Sage, 2022) Oliver, Alexander P.; Bell, Lauren A.; Agley, Jon; Bixler, Kristina; Hulvershorn, Leslie A.; Adams, Zachary W.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    As adolescent vaping reaches epidemic rates in the United States, it is imperative that pediatric clinicians have access to medical knowledge on best practices for screening, assessing, and treating vaping-related substance use. The Teen Vaping ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) program was developed to offer practical learning sessions focused on clinical management of adolescent vaping. This study describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program’s impact on participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding treatment of adolescent vaping from registration to the end of the series. Participants were generally knowledgeable about vaping at registration and reported significant increases in comfort talking with patients about vaping, counseling patients on nicotine replacement products, and frequency of implementing best-practice screening strategies at the end of the series. This study suggests ECHO programs focused on improving clinical management of adolescent vaping may increase accessibility of evidence-based care and reduce harms associated with vaping in youth.
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    Promoting best practices for managing opioid overdoses in the field: A novel project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes program for first responders
    (Elsevier, 2022-10-28) Oliver, Alexander P.; Adams, Zachary W.; Ott, Carol A.; Agley, Jon; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    As the opioid overdose epidemic persists in the United States, it is important to provide specific first responder-oriented continuing education opportunities on interacting with, treating, and assessing individuals who overdose or who have Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). This research brief describes the first Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) program focused on first responders and opioids, including the content covered and concomitant popularity and the registrants' objective knowledge and attitudes about opioids. Participation in the 'First Responders and Opioids ECHO' was free with no attendance requirements. Data include secondary assessment and description of the 9-session curriculum developed to address first responders' continuing education needs on OUD and overdose as well as objective knowledge and attitudes collected at program registration and granular attendance data by topic. Of 158 registrants, 102 attended at least one program session, with participants attending an average of 3.26 sessions (SD = 2.62). Registrants reported mixed knowledge levels, but even among this voluntary cohort of early adopters, objective knowledge about OUD and best-practice overdose response was only moderate. Registrants generally displayed non-stigmatizing and affirming attitudes and beliefs (e.g., substance use disorder is a treatable illness [M = 1.56, SD = 0.73]), with somewhat less agreement with items focused on harm reduction and medication-based treatment. A plausible case can be made that there is a need for evidence-based continuing education on opioids for first responders and related professionals. A motivated cohort of registrants displayed moderate but inconsistent knowledge and generally favorable attitudes. We encourage further systematic process and outcomes research on this topic.