A Resource for Healthcare and Social Services Professionals
October 7, 2021
9:00 am–10:30 am ET
This training will provide a brief overview of methamphetamine use disorder and treatment options.
Via Zoom
This training is intended for a wide variety of audiences, including, healthcare providers, public safety provider, and emergency responders, working in Berkshire county interacting with and caring for people with a stimulant use disorder. The training will review the basic biology of stimulant use and strategies to mitigate harm to individuals who are actively using stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamines. The training will delve into specific stimulant substances and available evidence-based treatments for patients with stimulant use disorder. The training will also review the signs and symptoms of overamping and strategies to de-escalation.
Healthcare providers, public safety providers, and emergency responders working in Berkshire county.
Justin is a Clinical Nurse Educator for Boston Medical Center's OBAT TTA team, with specific expertise in infectious disease and their co-occurrence with substance use disorders, community outreach, and harm reduction. He serves as an expert on OBAT TTA's SUD Care Continuum ECHO team and sits on the item writing committee for the Addictions Nursing Certification Board. Justin has dedicated his career to caring for patients living with HIV/AIDS and suffering from substance use disorders across the continuum of care. He is an AIDS Certified Registered Nurse, a Certified Addictions Registered Nurse, and a member of the Gamma Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau. Justin received his BSN from Northeastern University in 2013 and received his MSN, with a focus in nursing education, from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2020.
Vanessa Loukas, MSN, FNP-C, CARN-APVanessa is a Clinical Nurse Educator for Boston Medical Center's OBAT Technical Assistance Team with clinical interest and expertise in management of substance use disorders in primary care, chronic mental illness, and infectious diseases. She is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner receiving her Masters of Science in Nursing at Simmons College, and board certified in Advance Practice Addictions nursing through the Addictions Nursing Certification Board (CARN-AP). Prior to joining the OBAT TTA team, she was the Administrative Director of the Addiction Services Department at East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, formerly the South End Community Health Center, developing their multidisciplinary nursing led addiction program and where she practiced as a nurse practitioner managing a high risk patient panel. Vanessa also worked as a registered nurse in acute treatment services and medical stabilization programs.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
-Participants will be able to recognize the role of stimulants in the current overdose crisis.
-Participants will be able to identify people experiencing acute intoxication and withdrawal from stimulants.
-Participants will be able to name at least 2 evidence-based treatment strategies for people with a stimulant use disorder.
-Participants will be able to identify signs and symptoms of overamping and respond accordingly.
Boston Medical Center Grayken Center for Addiction, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (DPH/BSAS).
Boston Medical Center grants 1.00 hours to all nurses who attend and complete the evaluation. Boston Medical Center is approved as a provider of continuing professional development by American Nurses Association, Massachusetts, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Grayken Center for Addiction TTA is a program of Boston Medical Center (BMC), a 514-bed academic medical center located in Boston's historic South End and the largest safety-net hospital in New England.
The content on this site and the content presented by Grayken Center for Addiction TTA is intended solely to inform and educate healthcare and social service professionals, and shall not be used for medical advice and is not a substitute for the advice or treatment of a qualified medical professional. The hospital, the program, and the contributors are not acting as health care providers or professional consultants on behalf of any specific patient and disclaim establishing a provider-patient relationship with any specific patient.