Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jul 27, 2020
Date Accepted: Nov 17, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Virtual Overdose Response Phase 1 Research Protocol: A Feasibility and Clinical Trial Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
In 2016, deaths related to fentanyl outnumbered motor vehicle fatalities in Alberta for the first time making opioid misuse one of the most pressing public health problem of our time. Though supervised consumption sites (SCS) or Safe Injection Sites (SIS) have been shown to be effective in reducing the harms associated with the use of illicit substances and increasing uptake of addiction treatment and other health services, there is still significant stigma associated with them and it is unlikely that all of the people who would benefit from SCS will ever access a site.
Objective:
To help prevent deaths in populations that cannot or will not access physical safer consumption services in Alberta, we propose to provide virtual (phone-based) overdose response services, staffed by people with lived experience. The primary outcome for this study is uptake of the service as measured by the number of calls to the service. Secondary outcomes will investigate patterns of use of the phone line (days of the week and time of calls) and outcomes from the calls (number of emergency medical services (EMS) dispatches for overdoses from the service and the results of those dispatches).
Methods:
This phase 1 clinical study is set to officially launch in early May 2020. The service will be available to up to 15 participants who self-disclose as using opioids unobserved and have given informed consent for both data collection and interviews. This group will have access to a toll-free phone number and invited to call when they plan to use alone.
Results:
The analysis will be mixed methods, with quantitative data collected about the phone calls and participant health care usage and qualitative data collected from both participants and Virtual Overdose Response (VOR) operators to improve the design of the service and ensure safety of all involved.
Conclusions:
This clinical trial aims to test the feasibility of a service that provides virtual overdose response in order to help prevent deaths in populations that cannot or will not access physical safer consumption services in Alberta. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov – NCT04391192
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