Overdose: Pain Pills, Heroin, Fentanyl and Beyond

Course overview

This course will focus on opioid addiction and overdose, with close attention paid to the trends of both prescription and street drug abuse. In this course, the terms abuse, misuse, and addiction will be used interchangeably when referring to opioids. The statistics presented will refer to United States of America data unless stated otherwise. Opioid abuse is associated with numerous negative medical, psychosocial, and public health outcomes for individuals and communities. There are multiple risk factors for addiction, and once an individual starts down the path of opioid abuse, his or her neurobiology adapts in detrimental ways. In this course, the Healthcare professional will learn about the pharmacology of opioids, risk factors for opioid addiction and individual and community consequences of addiction. Additionally, the provider will become familiar with the levels of prevention theory and how to effectively prevent, screen, treat, and reduce harm from opioid addiction.