Bay Path part of a statewide team tasked with developing safer protocols for prescribing opioids
Longmeadow, MA—Faculty from Bay Path’s Physician Assistant program were part of a statewide collaborative team, created by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts Association of Physician Assistants, to develop core competencies for the prevention and management of prescription drug misuse.
Their work is documented in an article in the Journal of Physician Assistant Education which outlines the process of building consensus amongst Massachusetts’ nine programs and provides specific examples of how Physician Assistant (PA) Programs teach students.
As the Governor’s Physician Assistant Education Working Group on Prescription Drug Misuse, Bay Path and Massachusetts’ eight additional PA programs comprised a first-in-the-nation, cross-institutional partnership, formed to give students graduating from any PA program in the state in-depth knowledge, compassion and clinical skills to apply toward the safe prescription of opioids. By sharing this process, the authors hope to provide a blueprint for additional statewide, interdisciplinary collaborations around an educational approach to the opioid epidemic.
“Given the statistics on opioid use and opioid related deaths, particularly in Western MA, our students see firsthand how opioid misuse affects individuals, families and communities. It was an honor and privilege to work with the Governor’s office, the Department of Public Health and programs from across the state in order to better prepare our PA graduates to be part of the solution to this public health crisis,” said Theresa Riethle, MS, PA-C, Program Director and Associate Professor for Bay Path University’s Physician Assistant Program.
In 2018, 2,033 people in the Commonwealth died from opioid-related overdoses. While this number represents a statewide overall decrease of 4% from 2016, opioid related deaths have been steadily increasing in Western Massachusetts. From 2017 to 2018, Hampshire County had a 29% increase, Berkshire County had a 48% increase, Hampden County had an 84% increase, and Franklin County had a 144% increase.
“Physician assistant students need to be prepared to prevent and treat opioid use disorder and opioid overdose,” said DPH Commissioner Monica Bharel, MD, MPH. “We were pleased to work with the PA schools in Massachusetts to incorporate addiction treatment into their school curricula.”
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About Bay Path University
Bay Path University was founded in 1897. With locations in Longmeadow (main), East Longmeadow (Philip H. Ryan Health Science Center), Springfield (MA), Sturbridge (MA), and Concord (MA), Bay Path’s innovative program offerings include traditional undergraduate degrees for women, The American Women's College on-ground and online, the first all-women, all-online accredited bachelor’s degree programs in the country; over 30 graduate programs for women and men, including doctoral degrees; and Strategic Alliances, offering professional development courses for individuals and organizations. Bay Path’s goal is to give students confidence in the fundamentals of their chosen field, the curiosity to question the ordinary, the leadership to show initiative, and the desire to make a difference.