Abstract
This issue of Workplace Health & Safety contains a Continuing Nursing Education Module for 1.0 contact hour of continuing nursing education credit will be awarded by AAOHN upon successful completion of the posttest and evaluation.
A certificate will be awarded when the following requirements are met by the participant: (1) Participant logs on to the AAOHN LMS website at www.aaohn.org/education/online-learning-center and enrolls in the course ($10 members; $15 non-members); (2) The completed posttest and course evaluation are entered online at http://www.aaohn.org by December 2023; (3) A score of 75% (6 correct answers) is achieved by the participant.
Upon completion of this lesson, the occupational health nurse will be able to:
Describe what facilities or organizations can do to prevent workplace opioid use and addiction.
Determine measurable criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of a virtual training to improve awareness of workplace opioid use and addiction prevention.
Separate myths from facts related to opioid use, treatment, and addiction.
The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc. is an Approved Provider of continuing nursing education by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc., an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc. is additionally approved as a CNE provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing (#CEP9283).
Contact hours received for successful completion of the posttest and evaluation may be used for relicensure, certification, and re-certification.
The course objectives for the Opioids and Workplace Prevention and Response Train-the-Trainer course included: the scope and severity of the opioid crisis steps HR could take to identify and remove impaired employees a summary of the relationship between workplace injuries, working conditions and opioid use disorder A list actions that could be taken to prevent and respond to opioid use or misuse in the workplace All but b.
In this virtual quality improvement assessment, qualitative information was gathered from: an online voluntary survey with a pre and post test interviews what trainees said during the training class discussions and what was entered in the “chat box” all but a.
Subjects for this assessment were members of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing, Pipefitting and Sprinkler Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, the Midwest Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Training and The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Most were white males and almost half: had a history of a severe work injury had a personal history of substance abuse had an educational level which included graduate education had less than 10 years of work experience
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Worker Training Program (NIEHS WTP) recognized the need for training workers, their representative and employers on: how to develop an effective virtual education tool how to identify and isolate the addicted worker prevention of opioid use and addiction safety in the workplace
True or False: Opioid use or misuse is caused by a lack of willpower.
True or False: Naloxone is dangerous to administer to someone overdosing.
True or False: Morphine is 50 to 100 times more potent than Fentanyl.
The virtual online NIEHS WTP program was effective in training workers to prevent and respond to opioid use, misuse and addiction as evidenced by: A 57.1% increase in trainees feeling they knew what actions to take to prevent and respond to opioid use, misuse, and addiction A 30.5% increase in trainees able to describe the risks of occupational exposure and potential steps for prevention and response A 90.4 % increase in the ability to summarize the relationship between workplace injuries and illnesses, working conditions and opioid use disorder A 40.1% decrease in the ability to use group activities to train workers on opioid awareness
A limitation to this inquiry noted by the authors was: a limited application to occupational health practice a limited review of the literature an inability to match pre and post test scores at the individual level confusion related to including both qualitative and quantitative information
The authors indicated the need for future evaluations including: identifying the percentage of the respective worker populations with opioid use disorders evaluating the skill of the online instructors evaluating overall reductions in workplace injuries evaluating intermediate and long-term outcome measures both c. & d.