TRANSFORMATIVE
EDUCATION
Ohio is in the grip of a terrible and worsening opioid crisis, with our state leading the
nation in the number of deaths by opioid overdose. We have taken a leading role in
understanding and combatting the problem through community outreach programs
and enhanced efforts to prepare our students to deal with opioid misuse as practicing
physicians. In February 2017 our fourth annual Health Policy Day focused on this
serious problem and what osteopathic physicians can do to alleviate it.
TACKLING
THE
OPIOID
EPIDEMIC
During the event, all first-year Heritage College students heard about the history
of the problem and how it is likely to affect their practices when they become
physicians. Topics included handling “drug-seeking” patients and non-opioid
alternatives for pain management. State agency representatives and health care
providers, including State Medical Board President Amol Soin, M.D., and Justin
Trevino, M.D., assistant medical director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health
and Addiction Services, spoke about state legislative and regulatory intitatives to
combat the problem.
As Executive Dean Ken Johnson noted as he opened the event, the opioid epidemic is
“something that we have been working on consistently and deeply for years.” The
college was among the first medical schools in the nation to answer a 2016 call
from the White House requiring students to undergo prescriber education aligned
with Centers for Disease Control guidelines before they can graduate.