Training

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Virtual meeting

Via Zoom

Description

This course will prepare nurses and other key members of the multidisciplinary care team to deliver medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), such as buprenorphine and naltrexone, using a chronic care management model. Topics covered will include the science of addiction as a brain disorder, the pharmacotherapy of medications used to treat opioid and alcohol use disorders (current standard of care), and practical tools for implementing these treatment modalities into an office-based setting and for supporting physicians or other clinicians as part of a care team. Attendees will learn to screen patients for substance use disorders, initiate medication, and provide ongoing care and counseling.

Please note that you must have your camera turned on so we can see you in order to be eligible for continuing education credits.

Intended audience

Nurses and other clinical staff providing treatment for substance use disorders in an office-based setting.

Speakers

Justin Alves, RN, MSN, ACRN, CARN, CNE

Justin is a Clinical Nurse Educator for Boston Medical Center's OBAT TTA team, with specific expertise in infectious disease and their co-occurrence with substance use disorders, community outreach, and harm reduction. He serves as an expert on OBAT TTA's SUD Care Continuum ECHO team and sits on the item writing committee for the Addictions Nursing Certification Board. Justin has dedicated his career to caring for patients living with HIV/AIDS and suffering from substance use disorders across the continuum of care. He is an AIDS Certified Registered Nurse, a Certified Addictions Registered Nurse, and a member of the Gamma Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau. Justin received his BSN from Northeastern University in 2013 and received his MSN, with a focus in nursing education, from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2020.

Vanessa Loukas, MSN, FNP-C, CARN-AP

Vanessa is a Clinical Nurse Educator for Boston Medical Center's OBAT Technical Assistance Team with clinical interest and expertise in management of substance use disorders in primary care, chronic mental illness, and infectious diseases. She is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner receiving her Masters of Science in Nursing at Simmons College, and board certified in Advance Practice Addictions nursing through the Addictions Nursing Certification Board (CARN-AP). Prior to joining the OBAT TTA team, she was the Administrative Director of the Addiction Services Department at East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, formerly the South End Community Health Center, developing their multidisciplinary nursing led addiction program and where she practiced as a nurse practitioner managing a high risk patient panel. Vanessa also worked as a registered nurse in acute treatment services and medical stabilization programs.

Kristin Wason, MSN, NP-C, CARN

Kristin is a Nurse Practitioner at Boston Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Kristin has been working in addiction medicine since 2009 — initially practicing as a Registered Nurse within BMC's multidisciplinary OBAT clinic, managing a large caseload of patients with substance addiction, and now as a Primary Care Provider with a full DATA2000 X-waiver. In addition to her clinical practice, Kristin advises and supports community health centers on integration of best practices for treating substance use disorders into institutions across Massachusetts and nationwide. Kristin earned her MSN, Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner, degree from Salem State University. She is board certified in addictions nursing through the Addictions Nursing Certification Board.

Objectives

Following this training, attendees will have the knowledge necessary to:

• Identify the spectrum of substance use disorder.
• Describe neurobiological responses to substances and addiction.
• Describe the basic epidemiology and public health impact of substance use disorder.
• Describe how the concepts of chronic disease treatment apply to addiction.

Sponsored by

Boston Medical Center Grayken Center for Addiction TTA, Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (DPH/BSAS)

Funding for out of state attendees is provided by the Opioid Response Network (ORN).

Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by grant no. 1H79TI083343 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Accreditation information

Boston Medical Center grants 7.75 hours to all nurses who complete this program (both parts 1 and 2). You must stay for the entire program and complete an evaluation form. Boston Medical Center is approved as a provider of continuing professional development by American Nurses Association, Massachusetts, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

The lecture has been approved by The Network of Professional Education at Boston University School of Social Work, accredited by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Social Work Registration, to provide 8.00 credit hours. 

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