Evaluation of Pharmacy Students' Perception of Opioid / Opiate Dependence (STUD_TOX)

Evaluation of Pharmacy Students' Perception of Opioid / Opiate Dependence: Cross-sectional National Study

The pharmacist in his professional activity may have to manage opioid dependent patients. This professional activity will result in the provision of opioid substitution treatment (OST), single-use syringes, harm reduction kits and a prevention advice for the reduction of toxicity and infection risks.

Since the 1990s, the consumption of OST has been steadily increasing. According to the OFDT (French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction), the number of patients under OST is about 150 000 patients. Since high-dose buprenorphine is prescribed for approximately two-thirds of patients, it remains the most frequently prescribed OST in France.

Recently, a French association assisting drug users (ASUD - Auto-support des usagers de drogues) performed a study in Paris (20/07/2018 - 25/08/2018) to assess the delivery of opioid replacement therapies by community pharmacists. In this study, 71% of pharmacists refused to deliver opioid replacement therapies. The main reasons reported were security (56%) and activity saturation, meaning that pharmacists considered that they had too many patients using opioid drugs. In France, the refusal of a pharmacist to deliver drugs is a punishable offence. According to the Code of ethics of pharmacists, pharmacists must respect life and people without discrimination. Pharmacists have a low perception of patients suffering from opioid addiction. Another study performed by ASUD in 93 community pharmacies, showed that pharmacists used the term "toxicomaniacs" instead of "drug users". Most pharmacists had had a bad experience with drugs users, with physical and verbal aggressions. The conclusions of this study showed that pharmacists lacked knowledge of drug users and drug use. Pharmacists knew about harm reduction kits for opioid users (containing sterile syringes, needles, water, antiseptics, etc.) and had already opened them, but very few knew how to use them. More worryingly, some pharmacists did not understand the harm reduction strategies available It thus appears that community pharmacists have a difficult relationship with opioid-dependent patients, even though these pharmacists have received education in the management of addictions during their studies. Indeed, it can consider that these courses should help to better understand the addictive disease both in its nosological / semiological and therapeutic components. Thus, it would be interesting to evaluate the impact of addiction education on pharmacists' perception of opioid dependence. In this perspective, it would be interesting to focus on pharmacy students.

The objective of this study will be to evaluate the perception by pharmacy students of opioid dependent patients. Investigator would like to know if pharmacy students consider opioid addiction to be an illness and whether having taken education on drug use and addictions changes this perception.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Opioid-Related Disorders
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: survey

Detailed Description

This observational and cross-sectional study will be conducted as a survey using the REDCap software and the response to this survey will be done online, in real time, with an automatic, secure and centralized data collection (CHU Clermont-Ferrand).

French pharmacy students will be contacted by email thanks to the student associations and scolarity departments. Answer to the survey will be done online.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 2034

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Clermont-Ferrand, France, 63003
    • CHU Clermont-Ferrand

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

French pharmacy students

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• French pharmacy students

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age <18 years
• Other health students
• Graduated pharmacist
• First year pharmacy student

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
pharmacy students	Other: survey; French pharmacy students will be contacted by email thanks to the student associations and scolarity departments. Answer to the survey will be done online

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perception of opioid / opiate dependence as a disease	visual analogic scale: -10 (it is not a disease), 0 (neutral) and +10(it is a disease)	At day 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of courses on drug addiction during pharmacy studies	yes/no (percentage)	At day 1
Study year of courses on drug addiction during pharmacy studies	2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and/or 6th year of study in pharmacy	At day 1
Perception of the pharmacist's missions on the dispensing of opioid substitution treatments (buprenorphine and methadone) and harm reduction kit / single use syringe	visual analogic scale: -10 (it's not normal), 0 (neutral) and +10 (it's normal)	At day 1
Perception of the efficacy of opioid substitution treatments (buprenorphine and methadone)	visual analogic scale: -10 (it is not effective), 0 (neutral) and +10 (it is effective)	At day 1
Proportion of realization of internships or temporary employment in pharmacy	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Proportion of delivery of opioid substitution treatments (buprenorphine and methadone)	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Proportion of tobacco (cigarettes) use	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Proportion of electronic cigarettes use	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Proportion of alcohol use	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Proportion of alcohol use (>10 alcohol units per week)	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Proportion of cannabis use	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Frequency of cannabis use (for users)	Daily, weekly, monthly, occasional or experimentation	At day 1
Proportion of personal experience with a relative having or having had a problem of drug use	yes / no (percentage)	At day 1
Academic year in pharmacy at the time of the answer	2nd / 3rd / 4th / 5th / 6th year of study in pharmacy	At day 1
Estimation of attendance to courses	Visual analogic scale: 0 (no attendance) - 100 (full attendance)	At day 1
Estimation of annual average mark during the past university year	<10, 10-12, 12-14, 14-16 and >16/20	At day 1
Demographic information	age and sex	At day 1

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand
• Collaborators: UFR Pharmacie (Clermont-Ferrand)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 14, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 31, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): March 31, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 21, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 28, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): March 1, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 24, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 23, 2019
• Last Verified: February 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Opioid-Related Disorders; student; Community Pharmacy Services
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Narcotic-Related Disorders; Opioid-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: CHU-427

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No