Seton Hall and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Expand Interprofessional Medication-Assisted Treatment Training Grant for Opioid-Use Disorders
Thursday, November 18, 2021
The "Expanded Interprofessional Medication-Assisted Treatment Training Program" is a three-year grant totaling about $450,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The grant allows the training of future clinicians to prescribe medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services for individuals with an opioid use disorder (OUD). The new three-year grant follows a former three-year grant which concluded this summer with a major conference.
"We believe this work is making a difference for the future of treating this major health problem," said Kathleen Neville, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, associate dean of graduate studies and research at the Seton Hall College of Nursing, and the grant’s principal investigator. "In our first grant, more than 400 students in our three schools have received training. Now in our new grant, we are engaging in partnership with Monmouth University to train their nurse practitioner and physician assistant students, anticipating that 1,000 students will be DATA-waivered to prescribe MAT after graduation and be more prepared to address healthcare disparities and the opioid epidemic."
"This collaborative project allows us to make an impact at the very foundation of medicine, providing training to future clinicians to raise awareness of, and impart solutions to, the challenges brought about by the opioid epidemic," said Stanley R. Terlecky, Ph.D., associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies, and chair of Medical Sciences at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, another one of the project's leaders. "We look forward to continuing and indeed, expanding this good work for another three years."
The grant covers training for nurse practitioner, physician assistant and medical students regarding MAT for individuals with opioid-use disorders. Upon completion of the training, all students receive a Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA) waiver – formally permitting prescription of the powerful anti-opioid dependency drug buprenorphine.
According to Brian B. Shulman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, ASHA Fellow, FASAHP, FNAP, dean of the School of Health and Medical Sciences, "The school's physician assistant (PA) students participation in this second SAMHSA grant reaffirms not only expanding the role of the PA as an integral member of the interprofessional healthcare team but also reaffirms our commitment to preparing future healthcare practitioners and leaders to make a difference in the lives of the individuals in their care."
The first three-year grant enabled the development and implementation of an interprofessional DATA-Waiver Training Program embedded in the curriculum in the three schools. This DATA-Waiver program consists of 24 hours of didactic training for nurse practitioner and physician assistant students and eight hours for medical students, followed by 10 hours of clinical training at Hackensack Meridian Health Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead, New Jersey, and Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey.
"The initial grant awarded in 2018 represents a successful interprofessional initiative to address a worsening opioid crisis in America," reported Dean Marie Foley, Ph.D., R.N., College of Nursing. "This second grant addresses vulnerable and underserved populations in urban areas where there are significantly higher mortality rates. Attention to disadvantaged and marginalized populations is very much needed to confront this epidemic."
The new project will additionally address health disparities and social determinants of health of underserved, vulnerable populations, including those living in urban communities with high mortality rates due to overdose. It is hoped that this outcome will be accomplished through revision of the curriculum and expansion of the training to clinical sites in Newark, NJ including Integrity House, Broadway House, the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris, Inc., and Saint James Health. The new grant also extends the training to Monmouth University’s nursing and physician Assistant students, a pilot program involving the dissemination of the curriculum to other institutions.
More than 400 students successfully completed the DATA 2000 (DEA-X) Waiver training program by the end of the first three-year grant, making them eligible to obtain a DEA-X to prescribe MAT. With increased numbers of health professionals who can prescribe MAT, treatment recovery outcomes for individuals with opioid use disorders will improve.
The first grant was capped by the virtual conference "Recovery from Opioid Use Disorders: State-of-the-Art Science to Advance Clinical Care," held July 30 of this year. The event was organized by the project leaders: College of Nursing Associate Dean Neville; School of Health and Medical Sciences Department Chair and Assistant Professor Christopher Hanifin, M.S., PA-C; and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Associate Dean Terlecky.
"This is a critical need for all clinicians in the 21st century," said Bonita Stanton, M.D., the founding dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. "The health care workers of the future need to have the tools to address addiction. Through our innovative and highly inter-professional training at the beginning of the careers of our medical, nursing and physician assistant students, we are well-equipping the students to achieve the goal of substantial reduction among their communities in opioid addiction."
About Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New
Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its
On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Hackensack Meridian Health assumed its independent
operation in July 2020. The school’s vision is that each person in New Jersey, and
in the United States, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, will enjoy the highest
levels of wellness in an economically and behaviorally sustainable fashion. The School’s
unique curriculum focuses on linking the basic science with clinical relevance, through
an integrated curriculum in a team-oriented, collaborative environment. The school
prides itself on outreach, through programs like the Human Dimension, which is active
in communities across New Jersey.
Categories: Health and Medicine
