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Blair Bishop NP Mental Health & Addictions
Blair Bishop NP Mental Health & Addictions
Blair Bishop is a Nurse Practitioner who has worked in addiction and mental health for over 20 years. He completed his Clinical Masters in Nursing in 2016 from Massey University and has a particular interest in substance use disorder.
ABSTRACT
Title: Readiness and recovery: Transferring between methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone for the treatment of opioid use disorder
Background: Long acting opioids are prescribed as part of treatment for opioid use disorders; methadone and buprenorphine are well researched and commonly prescribed for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Meta-analysis suggests that buprenorphine has a slightly poorer retention rates in treatment as compared to methadone, and buprenorphine/naloxone patients used less illicit opioids while in treatment as compared to methadone. There are a number of qualitative and mixed method studies that ask patients about their experiences of methadone and buprenorphine maintenance treatment. This research aimed to understand perspectives of receiving buprenorphine/naloxone for the treatment of opioid use disorder.
Method: A qualitative descriptive approach was used. Seven participants with a current diagnosis of opioid use disorder treated with buprenorphine/naloxone were interviewed.
Results: Thematic analysis extracted four themes: drivers for opioid substitution treatment change; readiness for buprenorphine/naloxone substitution treatment; absence of effect from buprenorphine/naloxone; and an increased sense of citizenship on buprenorphine/naloxone.
Conclusions: This study identified a number of factors influencing participants’ decision making in transferring between methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone. Methadone was preferred by those seeking sedation and wishing to continue using other opioids, buprenorphine/naloxone was most effective for participants no longer wishing to experience sedation, and seeing opioid abstinence as an end point in their recovery. Changing treatment expectations are important to consider when determining medication selection and highlight the importance of quality information when determining the most suitable medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder.
KEY WORDS: decision making, buprenorphine/naloxone, methadone, opioid use disorders, qualitative.
Presenting author details
Full name: Blair Thomas Bishop
Contact number: +64 274979307
Linked In account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blair-bishop-76267050
Email: blair.bishop@ccdhb.org.nz
References: Bishop, B., Gilmour, J., & Deering, D. (2018). Readiness and recovery: Transferring between methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone for the treatment of opioid use disorder. International journal of mental health nursing.
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