Prescription Opioid Safety Toolkit

The Opioid Safety Toolkit was designed to address a critical gap: many Australians taking prescription opioids are unaware of the risks, have never been offered naloxone, and don’t discuss concerns with healthcare professionals due to stigma or fear. This limits access to life-saving information and care. The design challenge was to support the creation of a freely available online resource to address the complexities of safe opioid prescription use by encouraging distinct safety behaviours 1) obtaining freely available opioid antidote naloxone, 2) creating a safety plan, and 3) discussing their use of opioids, including any concerns with their healthcare professional.

The Toolkit addresses the challenge with an evidence-based, conversation-starting resource that empowers consumers with personalised, stigma-free education and tools. Co-design consultation and user-testing brought together 42 participants including consumers, healthcare professionals, and advocates to develop an online toolkit addressing barriers and facilitators to opioid safety behaviours. The process identified key factors influencing these behaviours, including stigma, conversations with healthcare providers, and limited public awareness of naloxone. The final Toolkit uses language to address sensitive topics, promotes engagement and safety. It meets the brief by encouraging consumers to start potentially life-saving conversations with healthcare professionals and normalising key overdose prevention strategies.

Australia has one of the highest rates of opioid prescribing per capita, globally. Opioids are associated with considerable harm including dependence, overdose and death and attributed to over 1000 deaths in 2022, resulting in considerable personal, societal and economic burden. The Opioid Safety Toolkit was designed with and for consumers to empower their safer opioid use. Rigorous evaluation has demonstrated the Toolkit is acceptable to consumers and significantly increases knowledge and opioid safety behaviours including requesting naloxone. Quality Use of Medicines and Medicines Safety is the 10th National Health Priority in Australia. This transformative Toolkit is leading Australian opioid safety.

The Opioid Safety Toolkit was co-designed through iterative workshops and user testing, engaging 42 participants for ongoing consultation including short-, medium- and long-term consumers, healthcare professionals responsible for prescribing and dispensing opioids, and consumer and professional advocacy groups—PainAustralia and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. The extensive co-design process was underpinned by a novel approach to designing digital health technologies by combining behavioural science frameworks within the Double Diamond design process. The process is a practical approach that can be readily used by other designers. A communication strategy was co-designed with stakeholders to facilitate dissemination and uptake of the Toolkit. The strategy includes messaging for multiple users over multiple channels. The Toolkit’s information is tailored and personalised, reflecting diverse needs of users’ lived experience. For example, long-term users are directed to the Routine Opioid Outcome Monitoring tool to track their healthcare and share with their clinician. An easy-to-fill safety plan is available for all users, which can be shared via email or downloaded for later reference. Curated imagery and video content in the Toolkit carefully reflect pain experiences and needs of consumers with chronic pain by using vector-based images rather than real-life photographs, which can cause pain flares.