College of Pharmacy selected for national pilot project to help combat substance use and opioid crises

The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy was recently selected to participate in the National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) Action Collaborative on Combatting Substance Use and Opioid Crises Core Competency Implementation Pilot Project. In partnership with the Action Collaborative, the college will join 15 other implementation sites across the United States in working towards advancing substance use care, workforce competency, and interprofessional education and practice by implementing the Action Collaborative’s 3Cs Framework for Pain and Unhealthy Substance Use, released in 2022. 

Recognizing the critical role that health professionals play in combatting substance use and opioid crises, in 2021 members of the Action Collaborative authored a special publication, Educating Together, Improving Together: Harmonizing Interprofessional Approaches to Address the Opioid Epidemic, identifying the need to establish minimum core competencies in pain management and substance use care for all health professionals. To catalyze response efforts to this need, the Action Collaborative developed the 3Cs Framework for Pain and Unhealthy Substance Use, which aims to set a standard for the minimum level of competence in pain management and substance use care expected from all health professionals to address professional practice gaps while strengthening the delivery of coordinated, interprofessional, high-quality, and person-centered care. 

The NAM Action Collaborative’s Implementation Pilot Project seeks to gain insights on the varied applications of the 3Cs Framework and the respective implementation processes. The learnings from this project will offer insight into the feasibility and utility of implementing the 3Cs Framework to improve health professional competency across the learning continuum and a diversity of interprofessional education and practice settings.

The NAM Action Collaborative has selected 16 pilot sites from across the nation to participate in the Implementation Pilot Project. As one of the implementation sites, Ohio State’s College of Pharmacy will expand its work on The Interprofessional Program on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in partnership with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The program, led by Kelsey Schmuhl, PharmD, BCACP, assistant professor in the college, leverages asynchronous and synchronous methodologies to teach about key OUD topics and enhance interprofessional approaches to caring for patients with OUD. The college’s Learning Design and Multimedia Team also supports the program. 

“We know that interprofessional healthcare really improves outcomes for patients and this program helps standardize how we’re teaching opioid use disorder across the health disciplines,” Dr. Schmuhl said. “This ensures our students come out of their programs with a baseline knowledge that’s similar across the board and understand how to treat a patient holistically and collaboratively.”

Through participation in the implementation pilot, the College of Pharmacy will help to inform and shape the future of health professions education policy and practice. As part of the implementation pilot, the project team will engage in a dynamic learning community to share insights and best practices while fostering relationships and connections with other sites and Action Collaborative members. The team will also travel to Washington, DC to participate in a final knowledge-sharing convening that will bring together representatives from the pilot sites and leaders across health professions education and training, health care delivery, and policy. 

Full List of Implementation Sites: 

• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons | Rosemont, Illinois 
• Binghamton University | Binghamton, New York
• DC Fire and EMS | Washington, D.C. 
• Drexel College of Medicine, Caring Together Program | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
• El Rio Community Health Center | Tucson, Arizona
• Florida Atlantic University | Boca Raton, Florida 
• Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing | Baltimore, Maryland
• The Ohio State University | Columbus, Ohio
• University of Alabama at Birmingham | Birmingham, Alabama
• University of Arizona | Tucson, Arizona
• University of California, Los Angeles Integrated Substance Use and Addiction Programs | Los Angeles, California 
• University of Florida, Office of Interprofessional Education | Gainesville, Jacksonville, and Orlando, Florida
• University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth | Fort Worth, Texas
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine/Vanderbilt University Medical Center | Nashville, Tennessee 
• Weill Cornell Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital | New York, New York
• The Wright Center for Community Health | Scranton, Pennsylvania 

About the Action Collaborative on Combatting Substance Use and Opioid Crises

The Action Collaborative on Combatting Substance Use and Opioid Crises brings together key stakeholders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to proactively drive structural change by developing, curating, and implementing multi-sector solutions and tools designed to reduce substance misuse and improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities affected by addiction. 

About the National Academy of Medicine

The National Academy of Medicine, established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.