HOSPITAL pharmacies can play a critical part in identifying individuals at risk of opioid harm, who could benefit from access to take home naloxone, the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) believes.
Releasing the Society's Take home naloxone in Australian hospitals: Hospital pharmacy practice update, SHPA CEO, Kristin Michaels, said it provided links to a range of resources for consumers and health workers to support the use of the overdose treatment.
"Opioids are known to be high risk medications, recently accounting for almost two thirds of all drug-induced deaths in Australia.
"There has been a 9% increase in opioid-induced deaths in the past five years, and nearly 150 hospitalisations and 14 emergency department (ED) presentations daily involve opioid-related harm.
"Accordingly, hospital settings are crucial sites for expanding evidence-based interventions to reduce related mortality."
Michaels said the provision of take-home naloxone wherever clinically appropriate was a well- documented life-saving strategy to prevent unintentional opioid-related harm.
"Naloxone has a long history of safe and effective use in the treatment of life-threatening opioid reactions and has been used in Australia in emergency settings for decades," she said.
"The Australian Government's pilot program, coupled with SHPA's Practice Update informed by hospital pharmacist expertise, will ensure the benefits are realised for more people at the time of greatest individual risk."
Under the Take Home Naloxone trial, the medication is available free without a prescription in participating states, for people who may either experience or witness an opioid overdose.
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