Core addiction & recovery education for nurse practitioners (CARE4NPS) - medication-assisted treatment (mat), including buprenorphine, is considered the gold standard in addiction CARE for opioid…

Core addiction & recovery education for nurse practitioners (CARE4NPS) - medication-assisted treatment (mat), including buprenorphine, is considered the gold standard in addiction CARE for opioid use disorder (OUD). Rural michigan is disproportionately impacted by high rates of opioid overdose mortality and low capacity to deliver mat. In addition to an overall lack of mat providers in rural michigan, fewer than 1/3 of waivered providers in michigan have ever written a single buprenorphine prescription, and the vast majority of providers who are waivered do not prescribe to capacity. Saginaw valley state university intends to improve access to evidence-based mat for OUD patients by increasing the number of nurse practitioners and other eligible providers in rural michigan who prescribe buprenorphine, and by removing obstacles that prevent waivered providers from initiating and expanding their use of mat in caring for patients with OUD. We will address educational gaps within the family nurse practitioner (FNP) and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) programs through the development, implementation, and evaluation of core addictions and recovery education for nurse practitioners (CARE4NPS). Specifically, we will establish an "addictions" curricular thread across the core and specialty courses within the FNP and PMHNP curricula to ensure that all NP students develop the requisite practice knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide compassionate, evidenced-based CARE to those with substance use disorders. A key component of this curricular enhancement will be the inclusion of buprenorphine waiver training for a minimum of 25 FNP and 30 PMHNP students annually, for a total of 165 waivered NPS over the life of this 3-year project. This grant will also support capacity-building efforts among all types of eligible buprenorphine prescribers in rural michigan through an expansion of svsu's SUD project echo. We will extend our outreach to the most remote parts of michigan, partner with the american society of addictions medicine to gain approval of svsu's SUD project echo curriculum to meet eligibility criteria for buprenorphine waiver training, and finally, we will expand the echo curriculum to include relevant topics that continue to limit buprenorphine prescribing practices, such as stigma, practice-related issues, and reimbursement concerns. We propose the following four goals: 1) to decrease the educational GAP in substance use treatment through the development and deployment of CARE4NPS, an integrated addictions-focused curriculum for FNP and PMHNP students; 2) to improve competence, confidence and readiness of FNP and PMHNP students to assess, diagnose, and treat individuals with OUD through didactic, simulation and clinical immersion experiences; 3) to build capacity and expand state-wide expertise among rural primary CARE teams to implement best practices in mat; and 4) to reduce stigma and other barriers that limit buprenorphine prescribing practices. We are confident that approaches that addresses both the education GAP and obstacles to buprenorphine prescribing will improve access to mat for OUD patients in rural michigan.