What clinicians need to know about buprenorphine for opioid use disorder

SAN DIEGO — In a video interview, Arwen Podesta, MD, ABPN, FASAM, ABIHM, a board-certified adult psychiatrist of Podesta Wellness in New Orleans, spoke about her presentation on implementing buprenorphine into psychiatric practice.

“One of the biggest challenges in opioid use disorder when left pharmacologically untreated is there’s a risk for overdose and death. So, utilizing what I call a ‘helmet’ on the opioid receptor to make sure that you treat your patient so that they are safe from overdose risk is important and it also helps with recovery,” Podesta said in the video.

Podesta focused on the importance of using medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, but mainly how clinicians can implement buprenorphine into practice starting with removing barriers and stigma, having staff you can refer to and making sure to correctly document use of this medication. It’s also important that clinicians know how to take someone off of a medication if necessary because a patient can go into withdrawal, she added.

She also offered information on where clinicians and nurse practitioners can access free buprenorphine resources to get trained and waivered and learn best practices.

Disclosures: Podesta reports consulting for Kaleo, Pear Therapeutics, JayMac Pharmaceuticals and speaking for Alkermes, Orexo and U.S. WorldMeds.