SBIR-STTR Award

Over the last decade, death from drug overdose has created an epidemic across the United States. In 2017, there were 70,237 deaths from drug overdose, including 47,600 deaths involving opioids—a 12% increase from previous opioid overdose deaths [1]. While overdoses related to prescription opioids have decreased, synthetic opioids made up over half of all opioid-related overdose deaths and increased over 40% from the prior year [1]. The goal in this proposal is closely aligned with the mission of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) to educate clinical providers and lay people towards improving treatment and outcomes for those suffering from substance use disorders (SUDs), specifically in response to a drug overdose. Many barriers have been identified for training providers on SUDs [2, 3]. Simulation-based training has shown promise for training providers about responding to drug overdose during Basic Life Support (BLS) training [4]. However, simulation-based training is resource intensive and can be difficult to implement as current simulator technologies require facilities, staff, and technology support. Overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) is associated with improved outcomes for people experiencing opioid overdose as well as decreased drug use by people who participated in OEND programs [5-11]. Increasing access to OEND could expand these positive results. The goal of this Phase I SBIR is to develop and integrate a curriculum for OEND using Lumis’s existing augmented reality (AR) healthcare simulator, the InSight Platform. The InSight Platform incorporates knowledge-based and hands-on training, requires less resources than traditional simulation, and supports broad deployment. The proposed curriculum will include a series of opioid overdose scenarios demonstrating patients in various stages of depressed level of consciousness and physiologic deterioration. These scenarios will allow clinical providers and lay people to train for evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of an opioid overdose with naloxone. Integrating the proposed curriculum for knowledge-based and hands-on training into the InSight Platform has the potential to rapidly and broadly disseminate standardized OEND curriculum. Mixed methods research will: (1) develop and refine a curriculum for providers and patients through structured interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs), (2) integrate curriculum into Lumis’ software with iterative feedback from SMEs throughout the process, and (3) evaluate feasibility, usability, and initial learning efficacy through focus groups and training sessions with facility administrators, clinical providers, and lay people.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programs show promise towards reducing overdose deaths related to opioids as well as reducing use of drugs by users. OEND programs use patient simulators for hands-on training of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but current systems lack the capability for training hands-on administration of naloxone during complex overdose scenarios. The goal of this Phase I SBIR is to develop and integrate a curriculum and hands-on training for complex overdose scenarios, including naloxone injection, using Lumis’s existing augmented reality (AR) healthcare simulator, the InSight Platform, for rapid deployment in the field for training to directly save lives.

Project Terms:
Accident and Emergency department; Administrator; Attitude; Augmented Reality; base; Basic Life Support; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; Caregivers; Cellular Phone; Cessation of life; Clinic; Clinical; commercialization; Complex; Computer software; cost; Credentialing; Depressed Level of Consciousness; design; Deterioration; Devices; Diagnosis; Disease; Drug usage; Drug user; Education; Educational Curriculum; Educational Materials; Educational Models; Effectiveness; Emergency Medical Technicians; Engineering; Epidemic; Equipment; Evaluation; experience; Family Caregiver; Family member; Feedback; first responder; Focus Groups; Goals; Harm Reduction; Health Personnel; Health Professional; Healthcare; Hospitals; improved; improved outcome; Individual; Injections; insight; Institution; Institutional Review Boards; Interview; iterative design; Knowledge; knowledge base; Learning; Legal patent; Logistics; Manikins; Medicine; Mission; Modality; Naloxone; National Institute of Drug Abuse; Nursing Schools; off-patent; operation; Opioid; opioid mortality; opioid overdose; opioid use disorder; Outcome; Overdose; overdose death; Paramedical Personnel; Patients; peer; Peripheral; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pharmacology; Phase; Physiological; Pre-Post Tests; prescription opioid; Process; Professional Organizations; programs; prototype; Provider; Recommendation; Reporting; research and development; Research Methodology; Resources; response; School Nursing; Series; simulation; Site; skills; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; software development; Specialist; Standardization; Structure; Substance Use Disorder; synthetic opioid; System; Tablets; Technology; Test Result; Testing; Time; Titrations; Training; Training Programs; Training Support; Treatment outcome; treatment services; United States; Universities; usability

Over the last decade, drug overdose death has created an epidemic across the United States. In 2018,there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths-a decrease of about 4.6% from 2017-but almost 70% of the deathsinvolved opioids. While overdoses related to prescription opioids have decreased, synthetic opioids made upover two-thirds of all opioid-related overdose deaths in 2018. West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, andNew Hampshire had the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in 2018. Furthermore, there are reportedincreases in overdose deaths that may result from isolation and access to drugs and treatment services relatedto the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this proposal is closely aligned with the mission of the National Instituteon Drug Abuse (NIDA) to educate clinical providers and lay people on improving treatment and outcomes forthose suffering from substance use disorders (SUDs), specifically in response to drug overdose. Many barriers have been identified for training providers on SUDs. Simulation-based training has shownpromise for training providers about responding to drug overdose during Basic Life Support (BLS) training.However, simulation-based training is usually resource intensive and can be difficult to implement as currentsimulator technologies require facilities, staff, and technology support. Overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) is associated with improved outcomes for peopleexperiencing opioid overdose as well as decreased drug use by people who participated in OEND programs.Increasing access to OEND could expand these positive results. This Phase II SBIR aims to further develop Lumis's Augmented Reality Training on Overdose (ART-OD)within Lumis's existing healthcare training simulator, the InSight Platform. The InSight Platform incorporatesknowledge-based and hands-on training, requires less resources than traditional simulation, and supports broaddeployment. The ART-OD prototype developed in Phase I met all benchmarks for success, including: (1)development and integration of an ART-OD prototype into the InSight Platform, (2) increased knowledge andattitudes towards recognizing and responding to an opioid overdose, and (3) positive feedback, usability, andmarket acceptance from various stakeholders. Mixed methods research will: (1) enhance the design of ART-OD developed in Phase I using anexpanded pool of subject matter experts (SMEs) and integration with an existing prototype for training cliniciansfrom the University of Florida College of Medicine (UCF COM), (2) integrating the enhanced design for ART-ODand the UCF COM prototype into an advanced ART-OD product, and (3) conducting pilot testing of ART-OD withpotential end-users and stakeholders to validate training effectiveness and market potential.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programs show promise towards reducing opioid-related overdose deaths as well as reducing drug use. While it is common for OEND programs to use patient simulators for hands-on training of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), most programs lack the capabilitites and resources for training hands-on administration of naloxone during complex overdose scenarios. The goal of this Phase II SBIR is to further develop Lumis's Augmented Reality Training on Overdose (ART-OD) curriculum within Lumis's immersive healthcare training simulator, the InSight Platform, for rapid training deployment to directly save lives.

Project Terms: