LITTLE ROCK – Two University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) research scientists recently were awarded a three-year $538,781 grant by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to investigate the opioid prescribing and dispensing decision making processes of primary care providers and pharmacists.

Opioids are medications that relieve pain and include drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine and codeine.

Leading the team are principal investigator Geoff Curran, Ph.D., director of the UAMS Center for Implementation Research and a professor in the UAMS College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice and College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, and co-investigator Bradley Martin, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a professor in the College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice and Division Head of Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy.

“We are trying to fill knowledge gaps about how people make decisions regarding prescribing and dispensing opioids and the processes they follow to help them make those decisions,” Curran said.

“The crux of what we are studying is the evaluation of legitimate pain management versus the misuse and abuse potential,” Martin said. “It’s how primary care providers from physicians to nurse practitioners walk the line between pain management so as to not be part of a cycle of abuse and diversion.”

The multidisciplinary research team will do face-to-face interviews of 120 people — 15 pharmacists and 15 primary care providers in each of the four states of Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky and Washington. The $538,781 is included in an overall $1.32 million grant from NIDA to support the multistate study, led Mark Edlund, M.D., Ph.D., at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina.

The results of the qualitative study will be used to construct models of prescribing and dispensing behaviors that will help address the complex problems sometimes associated with opioid prescribing and dependency.

Since 1980, use of opioids to treat chronic pain has increased dramatically. That increase has paralleled increased rates of opioid-use disorders and overdose deaths. Prescription opioid use disorders are the fastest growing form of drug abuse and the most common cause of accidental drug overdose in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called it an epidemic.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,890 students and 782 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) –

Hospitals across the state have recently reported having patients with Ebola-like symptoms. While there have been no confirmed cases in Arkansas health professionals from across the state gathered at UAMS to get their questions answered by the Arkansas Department of Health and UAMS.

The goal of the Wednesdays conference was to give definite answers. Dr. J. Gary Wheeler of the Arkansas Department of Health said he believes hospitals are doing the right thing by putting people on alert when they have patients who have Ebola-like symptoms.

“What we have accomplished in addressing this particular problem is that we are starting to see hospitals in other places begin to set up systems so that they screen the first contact of anyone that has been out of the country for say 30 days and what that’s going to allow us to do as we go forward is to have automatic systems to catch anyone who might come in with any type of illness that would put people at risk,” Wheeler said.

The panel answered questions like what hospitals should do if they run out of personal protective equipment, PPE.

Dr. Roxane Townsend, UAMS Medical Center CEO said, “We do work with each other to make sure that if there is a specific need at a hospital, sister hospitals would step up and share those resources.”

Even with the slew of questions answered Wednesday, the Arkansas Department of Health said both the community and health professionals need to put things in perspective and realize there is a very slim chance that anyone here will have to deal first hand with the virus.

Answering questions like if there is such a thing as an Ebola vaccine.

Dr. Holly Maples UAMS College of Pharmacy said, “There will currently be about a million and a half to two million doses available hopefully by the first of the year but those doses will be allotted to go to Africa where we are seeing the biggest hit with Ebola currently.”

The Arkansas Department of Health and UAMS both agreed preparation is key.

“We are working with TSA  on how we would manage a plane that came with a patient that had Ebola if it happened to land in the Little Rock airport and we have a draft plan for that,” Wheeler said “The greatest benefit or the silver lining if you will of all of this preparation is that we are putting in a system that will be there in time going forward that will protect us in the future.”

UAMS will conduct another question and answer presentation at UAMS for the community on Friday at Noon.

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As part of annual Diversity Month activities, three Team UAMS members were recognized with awards, while UAMS leaders reported on successes in promoting inclusiveness, cultural competence and increasing the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The UAMS Diversity and Inclusion Awards were presented to a faculty member, staff member and student who contributed to diversity. This was the second year for the awards, which accepted nominations from peers and colleagues.

Award recipients were:

• Lanita White, Pharm.D., director of the UAMS 12^th Street Health and Wellness Center, a student-led clinic providing screenings and health information to residents in the 12^th Street neighborhood area of Little Rock, received the faculty award. One nomination called White “a cheerleader and a role model” with “the rare gift of motivating and persuading others to do things they aren’t even aware are possible at the time” — by organizing students, faculty and community members for delivery of services at the 12^th Street center.
• Toan V. Bui, clinical programs education instructional development specialist received the staff ward. One nomination pointed to Bui showing an interest in the needs of others through his work and in sharing his personal and professional experiences during UAMS Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
• Venusa Phomakay, a third-year medical student received the student award and  was recognized in a nomination as an “example of humility and humanity” who finds time to lead a prayer lunch group for students and was chosen by her class for the White Coat Award, recognizing personal integrity and leadership.

Billy Thomas, M.D., vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, noted that the faculty and staff recipients each received more than one nomination.

UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., kicked off the event reinforcing the importance of diversity efforts to the success of the UAMS mission of health improvement. He related it to the challenge of health disparities — preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations defined by factors including race, geography, education and sexual orientation.

“The incidence of illness in Arkansas is not evenly distributed. It’s not a natural phenomenon, it’s a social phenomenon,” Rahn said. “At UAMS, we can provide leadership and focus on what unites us rather than what divides us as part of our mission of improving health in Arkansas.”

Thomas, also director of the UAMS Center for Diversity Affairs, highlighted accomplishments along with areas of focus for the center. The center is actively engaged through programs and educational efforts to increase the number of UAMS students, faculty and staff from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds but also to ensure UAMS produces graduates prepared to deliver patient-focused, culturally competent care.

“We need to move beyond race as the main indicator of diversity. There are  multiple  factors — gender, sexual orientation, geography, disabilities and individual differences that must be considered as we promote and embrace diversity.” Thomas said.

The center’s areas of focus the past year include campus climate, patient care, recruitment/retention, education, human resources, research, institutional data and community engagement. Thomas cited high student participation across all UAMS colleges in the 12^th Street Center as a prime example of community engagement that reaches many from disadvantaged populations with health and wellness screenings and information.

Among the programs sponsored or supported by the center are summer activities aimed at students from kindergarten through 12^th grade. Thomas reported those programs reached more than 200 students in the past year with exposure to math and science as well as possible careers in health care.

Undergraduate students can participate in research opportunities or test prep programs that target students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The programs also seek to identify students interested in health care careers. Another 50 plus students participated in these programs, which have seen several accepted to medical school through the years, Thomas said.

“We are making progress but there are always many other areas we need to move forward on,” Thomas said.