North Dakota State University Professor Heidi Eukel, PharmD, will receive the Generation Rx Award of Excellence for her commitment to education about substance misuse. The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) has announced her selection as part of its 2022 APhA Awards and Honors Program.
Eukel serves as part of a core team in the Opioid and Naloxone (ONE) Program which assists pharmacists in helping their patients and communities.
The ONE Program located in NDSU School of Pharmacy provides pharmacists and other health care professionals with training and programs they can implement to help those who may be at risk of substance misuse. The ONE Program also provides evidence-based tools, coaching and outcomes measurements to screen patients receiving opioid prescriptions for risk of misuse and overdose.
Eukel pioneered a key tool of the program—an algorithm that assists pharmacists in making the appropriate risk-based interventions. She also led the development of pharmacist training on the tool and program.
“The ONE Program team has now published seven peer-reviewed manuscripts, including two that Dr. Eukel wrote describing the very impactful education provided to pharmacists,” said Amy Werremeyer, PharmD, and chair of the NDSU School of Pharmacy.
“Because of the education and support provided to pharmacists via the ONE Program and Dr. Eukel’s leadership, the patient acceptance rate of naloxone in pharmacies utilizing the ONE Program grew to more than 6 times the national acceptance rate in 2019,” said Werremeyer.
“Nearly 90 percent of patients receiving an opioid at a ONE Program pharmacy now receive education about the potential for opioid misuse, as well as how to properly dispose of any unused opioid. These are important contributions to help reduce the negative impact of the opioid crisis,” said Werremeyer.
Participating pharmacists have completed more than 9,300 screenings for risk of opioid misuse and 93 percent of patients at risk for misuse/overdose received interventions for safe opioid use.
In addition, Eukel pioneered a pharmacy technician follow-up phone call program. In other efforts, she formed partnerships with home health nurses and corrections facility nurses to bring education and tools for safe opioid disposal to patient homes and to inmates being released from a corrections facility.
Eukel also supported integrating ONE Program training into the pharmacy curriculum at NDSU. In addition, select pharmacy students receive opportunities to be part of the ONE Program team while in NDSU’s pharmacy degree program, including scholarships that provide ways students can help pharmacists implement the program in community pharmacies.
The ONE program started in 2017 and has grown into a statewide collaboration. The program is now expanding to additional states.
Findings from Dr. Eukel’s work have been shared through the American Pharmacists Association, American Public Health Association, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance Use and Addiction, along with others.
Eukel will be officially recognized at the APhA2022 conference, scheduled for March 18–21, 2022. The APhA Awards and Honors Program is the most comprehensive recognition program in the profession of pharmacy.
The NDSU School of Pharmacy offers pathways of opportunity to pursue an array of pharmacy careers. Degree programs offered include PharmD, as well as dual degrees in PharmD/MPH, PharmD/MBA, PharmD/PhD and master’s and doctorate degrees in pharmaceutical sciences.
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