Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug;19(8):1157-1170.
doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2023.05.003. Epub 2023 May 16.

A scoping literature review of pharmacy-based opioid misuse screening and brief interventions

Deepika Rao  1 , Meg Mercy  2 , Christine McAtee  3 , James H Ford  4 , Olayinka O Shiyanbola  5
Affiliations

A scoping literature review of pharmacy-based opioid misuse screening and brief interventions

Deepika Rao et al. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Although prescription opioid dispensing rates have continued to decrease, overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Screening and brief interventions (SBI) are an effective prevention strategy to identify and address opioid misuse and safety risks. Emerging literature on pharmacy-based SBI needs to be systematically appraised to develop robust interventions.

Objective: Our objective was to conduct a scoping review of the literature regarding pharmacy-based opioid misuse SBI to identify relevant literature that explore the topic, evaluate the patient-centeredness of included studies, and explore the use of dissemination and implementation science in the literature.

Methods: The review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses -Scoping reviews (PRISMA-Sc) guidelines. We searched PubMed, CINHAL, PsychInfo, and Scopus for studies regarding pharmacy-based SBI, published in the last 20 years. We also conducted a separate grey literature search. Two of three total reviewers screened each abstract individually and identified eligible full-texts for inclusion. We critically appraised quality of included studies and qualitatively synthesized the relevant information.

Results: The search resulted in 21 studies (categorized as intervention, descriptive, and observational research) and 3 grey literature reports. Of the recently published 21 studies, 11 were observational research, with six interventions in the pilot stages. Screening tools varied but naloxone was the brief intervention in 15 of the 24 results. Only eight studies had high validity, reliability, and applicability and only five were patient-centered. Implementation science principles were addressed in eight studies (mainly interventions). Overall, the findings suggest high potential for evidence-based SBI to be successful.

Conclusions: Overall, the review suggested a strong lack of a patient-centered and implementation science-focused approach to designing pharmacy-based opioid misuse SBI. Findings suggest that a patient-centered, implementation focused approach is needed for effective and sustained pharmacy-based opioid misuse SBI.

Keywords: Naloxone; Opioid misuse; Opioid use disorder; Pharmacy; Prevention; Screening.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Steps involved in the scoping review process.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prisma diagram of search process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. CDC. Drug Overdose; 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/index.html
    1. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates NIDA. Opioid Overdose Crisis.
    1. SAMHSA . 2011. White Paper on Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in Behavioral Healthcare.
    1. Fleming M., Manwell L.B. Brief intervention in primary care settings. A primary treatment method for at-risk, problem, and dependent drinkers. Alcohol Res Health. 1999;23(2):128–137. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wilk A.I., Jensen N.M., Havighurst T.C. Meta-analysis of randomized control trials addressing brief interventions in heavy alcohol drinkers. J Gen Intern Med. 1997;12(5):274–283. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances