Policy Recommendations to End the Opioid and Overdose Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened an existing drug overdose crisis that claimed the lives of more than 81,000 people in the U.S. from May 2019-June 2020. Penn Nursing’s Peggy Compton, PhD, RN, FAAN, van Ameringen Chair in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing and Professor in the Department of Family and Community Health, and Shoshana Aronowitz, PhD, CRNP, a Fellow of the National Clinician Scholars Program, are co-authors on a recent policy brief from the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Opioid Working Group that provides evidence-based recommendations for the government to consider in its response.
Welcome to the New Academic Year, 2021-2022 from Dean Antonia M. Villarruel
Dear Colleagues – It feels like some time since I’ve been able to say this, but …Welcome back to Fagin Hall! It is great to be together again in our home base on Penn campus—and to resume in-person operations. It is my pleasure and privilege to welcome our returning students, faculty, and staff to this new academic year. I’d also like to welcome Penn Nursing’s new additions: 100 BSN, 83 ABSN, 65 MSN, 22 Post-MSN, 10 PhD, 41 Post-Masters DNP and executive leadership, and 28 Nurse Anesthesia DNP students. We have been waiting for you! Our faculty and staff have worked tirelessly to provide the best and safest educational experience possible.
Battling Public Health Misinformation Online
Social media and web-based news channels became a communication superhighway for correct and incorrect public health information during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study of this vast amount of information, known as infodemiology, is critical to building public health interventions to combat misinformation and help individuals, groups, and communities navigate and distill crucial public health messages.
Science With a Side of Fun
The women of Dear Pandemic bring facts and humor to fight misinformation on social media.
Exploring the Effectiveness of Telehealth in Opioid Use Disorder
The majority of individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) face access barriers to evidence-based treatment. While the COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportunity to address OUD treatment access barriers by allowing for expanded use of telehealth, is it not yet clear if this technology will help eliminate those barriers or exacerbate pre-existing treatment inequities.
Scaling the Model of Care for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder
Data show that concurrent with the opioid overdose crisis, there has been an increase in hospitalizations of people with opioid use disorder (OUD). One in ten of these hospitalized medical or surgical patients have comorbid opioid-related diagnoses.