title: Implementation of online opioid overdose prevention, recognition and response trainings for professional first responders: Year 1 survey results.
abstract: This article reports on the first web-based implementation of an opioid-overdose prevention, recognition and response training for professional first responders. The training was disseminated nationally over one listserv in November 2014. The same year, following Act 139, which mandated the provision of an online training for police officers in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Health approved the training. It was subsequently adopted as the primary training tool for police and other first responders in Pennsylvania and has been used as a training tool by first responders nationally.
  
  
  
  Analyses employed descriptive statistics to report characteristics of a sample of 387 professional first responders who completed a survey about their experience with the online training. Z-ratios were used to compare independent proportions related to overdose, naloxone, and satisfaction with the training between key subgroups, and paired t-tests were used to compare participant responses to a range of items pre- and post-participation in the training.
  
  
  
  Between January-October 2015, 4804 first responders took the training; 1697 (35.3%) agreed to be contacted; of these, 387 (22.8%) completed a survey about the training and subsequent overdose response experiences. The majority (86.4%) were from Pennsylvania, with police representing over half of the sample. Analysis of the post-training survey indicates high satisfaction with content, format and mode of delivery, and high satisfaction with items related to confidence and overdose reversal preparedness.
  
  
  
  This study demonstrates the feasibility and acceptability of implementing online training for first responders in overdose prevention, recognition and response.
authors.affiliation: National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. 71 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010, United States. Electronic address: simmons@ndri.org.
authors.forename: Janie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 114, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, United States.
authors.forename: Sonali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajan
authors.affiliation: New York University Meyers College of Nursing, 433 First Avenue, Room 739, New York, NY 10010, United States.
authors.forename: Lloyd
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goldsamt
authors.affiliation: National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. 71 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010, United States.
authors.forename: Luther
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Elliott
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000506:poisoning*; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009270:Naloxone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016495:Police; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D009270:Naloxone
keywords: Heroin; Naloxone; Online overdose training; Opioid overdose training; Opioids; Professional first responders