Episode 7 - Suboxone: One Film at a Time

The sun rises over the San Joaquin Valley, California. Today is April 15, 2020. Viral diseases anyone? The American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) recommended HPV vaccination for clinicians routinely exposed to HPV. This recommendation encompasses the complete provider team, including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, residents, and fellows, and others in the fields of OB/GYN, family practice, gyn-onc, and dermatology. While there is limited data on occupational HPV exposure, ASCCP, recommends that members actively protect themselves against the risks(1). 

 

This recommendation on HPV vaccination for health care workers was published on February 19, 2020. We thought it would be pertinent to remind you about the viral infections that we CAN prevent, since there are some viruses for which we do NOT have a vaccine yet. 

 

Welcome to Rio Bravo qWeek, the podcast of the Rio Bravo Family Medicine Residency Program, recorded weekly from Bakersfield, California, the land where growing never stops

The Rio Bravo Family Medicine Residency Program trains residents and students to prevent illnesses and bring health and hope to our community. Our mission: To Seek, Teach and Serve. Sponsored by Clinica Sierra Vista, Providing compassionate and affordable care to patients throughout Kern and Fresno counties since 1971. 

Quote: “Improvement begins with I.” – Arnold H. Glasow

Improvement is a never-ending process, and we must remind ourselves who needs to improve first? It’s normally us. That’s why “improvement begins with I”, I think that was a brilliant quote. 

Today our guest is Golriz Asefi. She is a smart, compassionate, dynamic PGY1 who is excited to talk to us after her community medicine rotation. She told me she enjoyed a lot working with Dr Beare, our street medicine doctor, whom I hope can be our guest in this podcast one day. Welcome, Dr Asefi. As you know we will ask you 5 questions. Let’s start with our first question number 1. 

1. Who are you?

I’m Dr Golriz Asefi, I’m a PGY1 here at Rio Bravo family medicine residency program. I grew up in the Bay Area (California). I went to UC Berkeley and then to Ross University School of Medicine. I picked our residency program because I was very interested in community medicine and helping the underserved. On my “spare time” I like to take long walks by the beach and go hiking with my friends. I also have a newly found love for yoga and barr method. 

2. What did you learn this week?

This week I learned about suboxone. Suboxone is a combination of buprenorphine (a partial opioid agonist) and naloxone (an opioid antagonist). It is used in the treatment of opioid use disorder along with counseling and other behavioral therapy. Suboxone is a class III controlled substance in the form of sublingual pill, sublingual film or buccal film.

Comment: Suboxone is part of the Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) of opioids. It is the use of medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. These medications operate to normalize brain chemistry, block the euphoric effects of opioids, relieve physiological cravings, and normalize body functions without the negative effects of the abused drug.

Suboxone is a combined medication. Why do we have both an agonist and antagonist in the same dose you might ask? Well it’s to prevent abuse, you see naloxone when taken sublingually as directed is minimally absorbed, whereas when injected, it is a strong blocker of the opioid receptor. So, you can get the antagonistic effect of naloxone. When taken sublingually naloxone is poorly absorbed, therefore patients experience less withdrawal symptoms.