The goal of this project is to prevent deaths from opioid overdoses through developing and commercializing the Opioid Rapid Response System (ORRS). This system is designed to reduce the cost of the opioid epidemic by developing standardized and effective procedures for recruiting and training citizen responders to use the PulsePoint app to administer life-saving naloxone/Narcan. This i-Corps supplement will assess the commercialization potential for ORRS and develop a plan for dissemination.
The Opioid Rapid Response System (ORRS) is designed to reduce the cost in lives of the opioid epidemic by developing a standardized and effective methods for recruiting and training citizen responders to use the PulsePoint app to administer lifesaving naloxone/Narcan. This app is currently used in 4,000 communities to link 911 calls for cardiac arrest incidents to responders trained in CPR. The current project will extend the application of the PulsePoint app to opioid overdose events by developing a system for recruiting and training citizen responders to react to opioid overdose events. This is vital since overdose events must be responded to within a very narrow timeframe estimated to be 30 minutes or less. Since formal or professional responders like EMS, fire and police services may have trouble meeting this restriction due to geographic distance or density, it is desirable to put naloxone/Narcan in the hands of trained citizen responders. Even in the absence of training, research demonstrates the lay persons can provide this life saving service. In addition, previous research suggests that existing training does not demonstrate efficacy and is not widely available. A pilot project found that this training does not instill the confidence needed in a lifesaving situation, even among professionals. However, merely developing an evidence-based system provides no assurances that it will be used. Implementation science research has repeatedly demonstrated that even effective interventions may not be successfully commercialized. Therefore, the goal of the i-Corp supplement is to provide additional training in the commercialization process, conduct approximately 100 interviews with end users (i.e., state and county health departments) and develop a more advanced commercialization plan. The interviews will identify the point-of-sale and point-of-contact decisions makers for users of the PulsePoint app as well as comparable decision makers in communities that do not use the app. They will describe the decision processes as well as other adoption factors. At the conclusion of the project a report will be written demonstrating the commercialization potential of the ORRS.
