Naloxone Saves Lives: Information for Patients, their Families/Care Partners and Pharmacists

This patient education document is available in both English and Spanish. It describes what naloxone is, how it works, why it is offered to individuals with an opioid prescription, and signs of opioid overdose.

Naloxone Saves Lives: English

Naloxone Saves Lives: Spanish

Naloxone Conversation Starters for Pharmacists

Reminders for Pharmacists When Offering Naloxone
• Offer a consultation about naloxone for opioid prescriptions.
• Be sure to advise patients that naloxone can be used to reverse any opioid overdose.
• Tell patients about available statewide programs that offer naloxone for free or at a lower cost.
• Patients may not be comfortable speaking about naloxone due to stigma associated with opioid use.

A list of multiple state naloxone resources is included.

National Action Plan for ADE Prevention

The National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention (ADE Action Plan) was established to address two key objectives: (1) identify common, preventable, and measurable adverse drug events (ADEs) that may result in significant patient harm; and (2) align the efforts of Federal health agencies to reduce patient harms from these specific ADEs nationally.

On the basis of national ADE data from inpatient and outpatient settings, three types of ADEs were considered to be common, clinically significant, preventable, and measurable, and were therefore selected as the high-priority targets of the ADE Action Plan.
The three initial targets of the ADE Action Plan are:
1. Anticoagulants (primary ADE of concern: bleeding)
2. Diabetes agents (primary ADE of concern: hypoglycemia)
3. Opioids (primary ADE of concern: accidental overdoses/over sedation /respiratory depression)


The ADE Action Plan suggests a four-pronged approach to reduce patient harms from these three ADEs: Surveillance, Prevention, Incentives and Oversight, and Research.

New York State Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) Instructional Webinar – free when using code

An on-line instructional webinar created in collaboration with IPRO QIN-QIO, the University at Buffalo, and the NYS Department of Health Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement can be accessed at the link above.

Prescribers and pharmacists who work or live in DC, DE, CT, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, RI, VT can earn 1.0 hour of free ACCME or ACPE continuing education for completing this program by using this code when prompted: qinub23.

It is available June 15, 2023, through June 12, 2025, and covers a variety of topics associated with the New York State Prescription Monitoring Program Registry (PMP) for controlled substances, including the use of the PMP registry search, use of the PMP Data Collection Tool, and interstate data sharing.

Nursing Home Emergency Preparedness Resources

Nursing Home Survey Tag Specific Emergency Preparedness Checklist

Checklist to cross reference facility emergency preparedness plan with CMS survey requirements to ensure all elements are addressed in facility emergency preparedness plan. There is also a companion document that provides links to resources for emergency preparedness plan development.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mm1VLd8robyygaA_NBKmO-rSC2OWCqwL/view?usp=drive_link

Tag Specific Emergency Preparedness Resources

Companion document to Nursing Home Tag Specific Emergency Preparedness Checklist.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ae55H6eMFmwoV9Idj2nx-owWvfgZnFZ5

Nursing Home Naloxone Policy and Procedure Toolkit

According to a CMS memo regarding Mental Health/Substance Use Disorder (SUD), CMS has identified a need to improve guidance related to meeting the unique health needs of residents with mental health diagnoses and SUD. CMS clarified that when facilities care for residents with these conditions, policies and practices must not conflict with resident rights or other requirements of participation. They further clarified that facility staff should have knowledge of signs and symptoms of possible substance use, and are prepared to address emergencies (e.g., an overdose) by increasing monitoring, administering naloxone, initiating cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as appropriate, and contacting emergency medical services.[1] This naloxone nursing home toolkit is intended to provide easy to adapt policies and procedures for nursing homes that need to implement or improve their emergency response to opioid overdose, which includes naloxone administration.

[1] Revised Long-Term Care Surveyor Guidance | CMS. www.cms.gov. Accessed January 17, 2023. (https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/revised-long-term-care-surveyor-guidance)

The Nursing Home Naloxone Policy & Procedure Toolkit PowerPoint

This is another resource, designed to be used as an introductory presentation. This slide deck contains an abridged version of the Toolkit and provides a general overview of the Toolkit contents. It includes select references to regulatory guidance, background, need assessment, features, and brief descriptions of the policies, procedures, and resources contained in the Toolkit.

Nursing Home Naloxone Policy & Procedure Toolkit Implementation Checklist

This resource was created to help facilities implement the Nursing Home Naloxone Policy & Procedure Toolkit. This checklist provides an overview for a process to successfully implement select toolkit contents.

Nursing Home Respiratory Tract Infection Action Plan

The RTI Treatment Action Plan template can assist Nursing Homes in assessing the management of respiratory tract infections in the facility. The template includes examples of root cause analysis, SMART goals, PDSA cycles, resources, and a staff pre and posttest knowledge assessment. The Action Plan is created in Word format to allow the user to modify the content to meet facility specific needs.