Northeastern University School of Pharmacy, Boston, MA.
Massachusetts General Hospital Substance Use Disorders Initiative, Boston, MA, USA.
Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2021 Mar 18;78(7):613-618. doi: 10.1093/ajhp/zxab003.
Strategies for deploying clinical pharmacists to increase access to buprenorphine in inpatient, outpatient and transitional care, and community practice settings are described.
Access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is essential, but patients face many barriers when pursuing treatment and MOUD. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has compounded the opioid crisis and worsened outcomes by introducing new barriers to MOUD access. Many strategies to ensure continued access to MOUD have been described, but the role of leveraging pharmacists during the opioid/COVID-19 syndemic to improve medication access and outcomes remains underappreciated. Pharmacists, while both qualified and capable of liberalizing access to all forms of MOUD, may have the strongest impact by increasing access to buprenorphine. Herein, we present progressive strategies to maintain and extend buprenorphine access for patients with OUD through deployment of clinical pharmacists, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which access may be further restricted.
Leveraging pharmacists to extend access to MOUD, particularly buprenorphine, remains an underutilized strategy that should be implemented, particularly during the concurrent COVID-19 global pandemic.
描述了在住院、门诊和过渡护理以及社区实践环境中部署临床药师以增加丁丙诺啡可及性的策略。
获得阿片类药物使用障碍（MOUD）的药物至关重要，但患者在寻求治疗和 MOUD 时面临许多障碍。2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行加剧了阿片类药物危机，并通过引入获取 MOUD 的新障碍，使结果恶化。已经描述了许多确保 MOUD 持续可及的策略，但在阿片类药物/COVID-19 综合征期间利用药剂师来改善药物获取和结果的作用仍然未被充分认识。药剂师既有资格又有能力放宽所有形式的 MOUD 的获取途径，但通过增加丁丙诺啡的可及性，可能会产生最大的影响。在此，我们提出了通过部署临床药师来维持和扩大阿片类药物使用障碍患者（特别是在 COVID-19 大流行期间）的丁丙诺啡可及性的渐进策略，在此期间，获得途径可能会进一步受到限制。
利用药剂师扩大获得 MOUD 的途径，特别是丁丙诺啡，仍然是一种未充分利用的策略，应在 COVID-19 大流行期间实施。
