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A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation
BACKGROUND: With many drug-related deaths driven by potent synthetic opioids tainting the illicit drug supply, drug checking services are becoming a key harm reduction strategy. Many drug checking technologies are available, ranging from fentanyl test strips to mass spectrometry. This study aimed to...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10580636/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37848875 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00882-y |
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author | Grace Rose, Chloe Pickard, A. Simon Kulbokas, Victoria Hoferka, Stacey Friedman, Kaitlyn Epstein, Jennifer Lee, Todd A. |
author_facet | Grace Rose, Chloe Pickard, A. Simon Kulbokas, Victoria Hoferka, Stacey Friedman, Kaitlyn Epstein, Jennifer Lee, Todd A. |
author_sort | Grace Rose, Chloe |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: With many drug-related deaths driven by potent synthetic opioids tainting the illicit drug supply, drug checking services are becoming a key harm reduction strategy. Many drug checking technologies are available, ranging from fentanyl test strips to mass spectrometry. This study aimed to identify key considerations when implementing drug checking technologies and services to support harm reduction initiatives. METHODS: Key informant interviews were conducted with harm reduction stakeholders throughout Illinois. Participants included members of existing drug checking services and recovery centers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded by two researchers using the framework method. Findings were contextualized according to micro (client)-, meso (organization)-, and macro (policy)-level themes. RESULTS: Seven interviews were conducted with ten participants. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was consistently identified as a technology of choice given its accuracy, range of substance detection, portability, and usability. Recommendations included the use of confirmatory testing, which can help address the limitations of technologies and provide a mechanism to train technicians. Locations of drug checking services should maximize public health outreach and leverage existing harm reduction agencies and staff with lived experience, who are critical to developing trust and rapport with clients. Criminalization and loss of privacy were major concerns for clients using drug checking services. Additional issues included the need to raise awareness of the legitimacy of services through public support from governing bodies, and funding to ensure the sustainability of drug checking services. CONCLUSIONS: This research facilitated the identification of issues and recommendations from stakeholders around key considerations for the adoption of drug checking technologies, which not only included the cost and technical specifications of instrumentation, but also broader issues such as accessibility, privacy, and well-trained personnel trusted by clients of the service. Successful implementation of drug checking services requires knowledge of local needs and capacity and an in-depth understanding of the target population. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10580636 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-105806362023-10-18 A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation Grace Rose, Chloe Pickard, A. Simon Kulbokas, Victoria Hoferka, Stacey Friedman, Kaitlyn Epstein, Jennifer Lee, Todd A. Harm Reduct J Research BACKGROUND: With many drug-related deaths driven by potent synthetic opioids tainting the illicit drug supply, drug checking services are becoming a key harm reduction strategy. Many drug checking technologies are available, ranging from fentanyl test strips to mass spectrometry. This study aimed to identify key considerations when implementing drug checking technologies and services to support harm reduction initiatives. METHODS: Key informant interviews were conducted with harm reduction stakeholders throughout Illinois. Participants included members of existing drug checking services and recovery centers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded by two researchers using the framework method. Findings were contextualized according to micro (client)-, meso (organization)-, and macro (policy)-level themes. RESULTS: Seven interviews were conducted with ten participants. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was consistently identified as a technology of choice given its accuracy, range of substance detection, portability, and usability. Recommendations included the use of confirmatory testing, which can help address the limitations of technologies and provide a mechanism to train technicians. Locations of drug checking services should maximize public health outreach and leverage existing harm reduction agencies and staff with lived experience, who are critical to developing trust and rapport with clients. Criminalization and loss of privacy were major concerns for clients using drug checking services. Additional issues included the need to raise awareness of the legitimacy of services through public support from governing bodies, and funding to ensure the sustainability of drug checking services. CONCLUSIONS: This research facilitated the identification of issues and recommendations from stakeholders around key considerations for the adoption of drug checking technologies, which not only included the cost and technical specifications of instrumentation, but also broader issues such as accessibility, privacy, and well-trained personnel trusted by clients of the service. Successful implementation of drug checking services requires knowledge of local needs and capacity and an in-depth understanding of the target population. BioMed Central 2023-10-17 /pmc/articles/PMC10580636/ /pubmed/37848875 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00882-y Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Grace Rose, Chloe Pickard, A. Simon Kulbokas, Victoria Hoferka, Stacey Friedman, Kaitlyn Epstein, Jennifer Lee, Todd A. A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation |
title | A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation |
title_full | A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation |
title_fullStr | A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation |
title_full_unstemmed | A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation |
title_short | A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation |
title_sort | qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10580636/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37848875 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00882-y |
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