Anthony Brietbach (SLU) delivers award to Sue Feldman and Andrew ButlerThe Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) named ALAHOPE – Alabama Health Professionals’ Opioid and Pain Management Education – a Program of Merit as part of their Award for Institutional Excellence and Innovation in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Health Care.
ALAHOPE is a partnership between the Jefferson County Department of Health, Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions and Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy. Together they have provided a curriculum to promote best practices of safe opioid prescribing and dispensing appropriate for use by all health care professions schools in Alabama.
“ALAHOPE brought two different universities and two different governmental organizations together to deliver unparalleled opioid education to anyone free of charge. This project shows anything is possible when effective teams collaborate with the patient and their family at the center of health care,” said Andrew J. Butler, PhD, FASAHP, Dean and Professor, School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham. “ASAHP has long been the epitome of how a successful alliance should operate so I have the highest respect for our school earning their Program of Merit designation for this award.”
Sue Feldman, RN, MEd, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of the ALAHOPE project and director, UAB School of Health Professions’ Graduate Programs in Health Informatics, accepted the Program of Merit honor at the 2023 ASAHP Annual Conference Awards Ceremony on October 19, 2023.
Speaking about all the programs who were awarded, ASAHP President Deb Larsen, PhD, FASAHP, said:
“These institutions have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to advancing healthcare education and fostering collaboration among healthcare professionals. Their innovative approaches have not only enhanced the quality of education but also improved patient care outcomes. Today, we are thrilled to recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of our award recipient and programs of merit.”
ALAHOPE, a modular based curriculum, was created for students across Alabama in any type of health professions program that may play a role in preventing or treating patients with substance use disorder and/or pain. This would include students in school to become physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physician assistants, dentists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, optometrists, counselors and social workers.
ALAHOPE also offers free continuing education credit for those practicing in many of these professions, with optometry and podiatry pending.
To learn more about the ALAHOPE program visit: www.alahope.org.
