Community-informed design of personalized patient-facing materials to facilitate ED-initiated treatment of opioid use disorder

Objectives: Despite evidence for safe and effective treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) with medications (MOUD), few patients engage in treatment. Among other barriers, patients report challenges related to generic ED discharge materials that fail to meet individual patients' MOUD-related needs and preferences. Our study aimed to design and develop an intervention to address this gap. Methods: This study adopted a community-engaged, user-centered design approach. A community advisory board (CAB), comprising individuals with lived experience of OUD, ED physicians, addiction experts, and community program staff, informed intervention design. An initial prototype was designed to address CAB-identified challenges The prototype was iteratively refined with end-user feedback to develop the final product. Results: The CAB-identified challenges to MOUD engagement included lengthy, generic MOUD discharge materials that fail to meet the urgent needs of patients in opioid withdrawal. The initial prototype was refined with feedback from 20 individuals with OUD and ED clinicians to develop the final product. The final product included a novel, multi-component intervention consisting of: (1) A clinician-facing intake form to identify patients' MOUD preferences and socio-economic needs, (2) a paper-based, customized ED discharge summary, containing essential information tailored to individual needs, (3) a QR code accessible, digital component, containing supplemental information, and (4) a patient-facing poster for the ED care area to encourage patients to discuss MOUD treatment with their clinicians. Innovation/conclusion: This innovative intervention can deliver customized MOUD-related patient education materials at ED discharge. A future trial will evaluate the intervention's effectiveness in improving patient MOUD engagement.