Michael Holbrook, a student of the Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and Calab Tang of the Cedarville University of Pharmacy are collaborating to study the benefits of using opioid disposal bags.
Holbrook and Tang were introduced to opioid bags last year by Generation RX, an educational organization focused on awareness of prescription medication. It was around this time that the students started their project.
“[Generation RX] purchased the bags through a grant and then we were able to create the connections to get them to pharmacies,” Holbrook said.
Holbrook and Tang then began to create relationships with pharmacies across Southwest Ohio through first-year pharmacy students at Cedarville.
“At Cedarville the first-year students are required to work in pharmacies and we were able to build connections and give the disposal bags to the pharmacies, we’re currently working 30 to 40 pharmacies,” Holbrook said.
The bags are the size of a traditional mailing envelope and are lined with a synthetic compound that when mixed with water it deactivates the medicine, according to Holbrook. One bag can hold up to 45 pills.
“As a Wright State University School of Boonshoft Medicine student who aspires to go into emergency medicine physician, I have already seen firsthand the impact of this crisis in our community,” Holbrook said. “My efforts with this project is a small step in hoping to curve the opioid crisis.”
Holbrook said they are waiting on the results of a reserve to determine how effective and beneficial the bags are.
The surveys ask users to rate the bags on a scale of one to five as well as how many medications they keep in their cabinet and how were they disposed of afterward.
The project was presented at a 2017 Institute for Healthcare Improvement National Forum in Orlando last year with Holbrook and several other students.
