Medical staff perceptions of medication-assisted treatment in a federally qualified health center

Abstract

Objectives: To describe medical staff attitudes and perceived behaviors toward medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in a federally qualified health center (FQHC). The secondary objective was to identify the staff's perceptions of using pharmacists during MAT.

Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive study using a 26-item Web-based survey was developed using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and consisted of Likert scale and multiple-select options.

Setting and participants: Medical staff located at an FQHC in northwest Indiana were eligible to participate if they were 18 years or older. Corporate and administrative staff were not eligible to participate.

Outcome measures: Perceptions were measured using the 4 constructs of the TPB: attitude, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, and intent. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: Of the 240 eligible respondents, 104 employees completed the survey, yielding a 43.3% response rate. The providers generally believed they had the knowledge (83.9% agree or strongly agree) to diagnose patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). From the perceived behavioral control construct, staff were confident of their ability to identify patients for MAT (65.2%); however, most believed they needed additional training on MAT (75%) from the attitude construct. From the subjective norm construct, more than half of the respondents believed that their employer wanted them to be involved in the treatment of a patient with OUD (60.7%). Commonly, from the intent construct, the staff favored adding pharmacists to the care team when managing patients with MAT (57.7%).

Conclusion: The staff expressed the need for additional training to provide MAT services and believed this would enable them to become an important part of the MAT team. Adding a trained pharmacist to the care team when managing patients with MAT was favored by the staff. The study showed that health professionals would be more comfortable if a pharmacist were available for MAT consultation.