Citation

Dworkis DA, Tang W, Ritcheson NC, Raviv O, Fowler A, Ellig K, Goley S, Arora S. J. Am. Coll. Health 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Emergency Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07448481.2020.1726931

PMID

32150523

Abstract

Objective: Opioid use and the risk of opioid overdose are growing public health concerns for college-aged adults. Naloxone can temporarily reverse opioid overdoses, but only if easily accessible. On most college campuses, "blue light" phones (BLPs)-call boxes topped with a blue light-offer visible access to emergency services. We hypothesized that BLPs would provide potential naloxone access points. Participants: A major university campus in Los Angeles, CA. Methods: BLP locations were obtained using Google Maps, and the area of campus within a set distance to each BLP calculated. To model effects of loss or diversion, we simulated the random loss of various BLPs. Results: Placing naloxone kits at the 59 BLP locations could provide access within 100 m to 91.5% of the campus. With loss of half of the BLPs, campus access remained above 70%. Conclusions: Naloxone at BLP locations could be accessed from almost all campus areas.

Language: en

Keywords

Geospatial analysis; opioid overdose; public health