New naloxone training app helps teach people how to save lives

December 18, 2017

A team from St. Paul’s Hospital Emergency Department has created an easy-to-use training app to teach people how to respond to an opioid overdose with a Take Home Naloxone kit.

Healthcare workers around the province now have access to a simple online training app to teach people how to use naloxone – www.NaloxoneTraining.com. The project was spearheaded by a team from St. Paul Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED), one of 614 sites across the province that distributes Take Home Naloxone kits.

“When we started handing out naloxone kits in the St. Paul’s Hospital Emergency Department, we realized it was challenging to deliver consistent, high-quality training in a busy environment,” explains emergency physician Dr. Andrew Kestler. “We wanted training that could be accessed from an iPad in the hospital so it was easy for healthcare workers to deliver, even without a lot of previous experience with the kits.” The other goal was to develop training that would be accessible at home for people who use opioids and their families.

The ED team worked with local companies Hello Cool World and Animikii, in conjunction with the SPH Rapid Access Addiction Clinic and Toward The Heart, to develop the web app. Funding was provided by the St. Paul’s Foundation.

“When we started handing out naloxone kits in the St. Paul’s Hospital Emergency Department, we realized it was challenging to deliver consistent, high-quality training in a busy environment,”
- emergency physician Dr. Andrew Kestler

In addition to providing training at the hospital site, people at home can also use the web app and get a certificate of completion that can be redeemed for a naloxone kit at a distribution site. Now anyone can learn how to administer naloxone or give themselves a refresher course, at their own convenience.

“The feedback we’re received so far has been incredibly positive,” says Dr. Kestler. “And we hope this app will help emergency departments and others dealing with the overdose crisis to train as many people as possible to save lives.”

Download the press release by Providence Health Care.

More information for sites. We still encourage hands on training!