Virginia Research Day 2025

Medical Student Research Education and Simulation

Tobias Addis; Alexandra Reagan; Penny Clanor; Natalie Graham; Addison Shenk; Austin Gordon; Brooke Nelson; Ishan Perera; Elizabeth Moomaw; Tullia Johnston; Wayne Tate; Alexandra Thommason; Emily D’Arpa; Trina Nguyen; Taylor Daniels; Ryan Martin; Dr. Cathleen Callahan; Dr. James Mahaney Corresponding author: taddis@vcom.edu 08 A Transformational Health Approach to Evaluation of the Virginia Revive! Course in the Training of First Year Medical Students in Rural Virginia - An Extended Study

Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Virginia Campus

In 2022, the Virginia Department of Health reported the State Death Count for all-drug related overdoses to be 2,490 (Death Rate: 29.0), of which 2,102 were attributable to opioid class drugs (Death Rate: 24.5). Compared to 2021, this was a 5% decrease in drug overdose fatalities for the Commonwealth. However, opioids - especially fentanyl-containing opioids - still persist as a significant public health threat, with 79% of all overdose deaths being related to fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, or tramadol. The most well-known overdose reversal agent utilized for opioid overdoses is naloxone (brand name: Narcan), and is widely available across the Commonwealth without a prescription. Naloxone works by temporarily blocking the effects of opioids and helps a person suffering from an overdose to breathe again. The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) has developed an opioid overdose and naloxone education (OONE) program called REVIVE!, which provides lay person training on how to identify and treat an opioid overdose with naloxone. The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Virginia Campus (VCOM VA) has also established an Overdose Prevention Task

Force (OPTF), whose mission is to provide REVIVE! training to its students in order to mitigate the effects of the opioid epidemic, which has a particularly strong impact in the institution’s service area - the Appalachia Region. For the last 5 years, the OPTF has successfully trained 100% of the first-year class at VCOM-VA. This training is standardized and delivered by agents appointed by the Commonwealth of Virginia; however, the program lacks peer-reviewed evaluation of its objectives: 1. Understand the REVIVE! program and legislation, 2. Understand addiction, 3. Understand how opioid overdose emergencies happen and how to recognize them, 4. Understand how naloxone works, 5. Identify risk factors that may make someone more susceptible to an opioid overdose emergency, 6. Dispel common myths about how to reverse an opioid overdose, and 7. Learn how to respond to an opioid overdose emergency with the administration of naloxone. Students who complete this training are not evaluated for their competency in the listed objectives.

This prospective cohort study compares the effectiveness of the didactic REVIVE! course to a REVIVE! course plus simulation-based training. Simulation has been shown to improve student comfort and performance in procedural skills while emphasizing teamwork and communication. The study seeks to elucidate the effectiveness of the course via a standardized post-assessment, simulated assessment of the participant’s ability to recognize and implement the REVIVE! protocol, and evaluation of 6-month knowledge retention. The authors received all subjects’ informed consent for use of data in this report. This study is currently in the initial data analysis phase as approved by the VCOM IRB, protocol number 2023-132, and is reporting new findings based on additional data collected over the last year.

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2025 Research Recognition Day