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Graduate School of Nursing Dean Joan Vitello, PhD |
Graduate School of Nursing Dean Joan Vitello, PhD, has been appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker as a member of his special commission to study the incorporation of safe and effective pain treatment and prescribing practices into professional training for future health care providers. Dr. Vitello was sworn in at a ceremony at the State House on Thursday, June 30.
She is the sole nursing representative on the special commission for student training in pain treatment.
“I am honored to be serving on this important special commission,” Vitello said. “We are proud that UMass Medical School has taken the lead in providing interprofessional training for our nurse practitioner students and medical students to ensure that they will be safe prescribers as a means of combatting the opioid crisis.”
UMMS was the first medical school in Massachusetts to implement opioid abuse prevention curriculum enhancements, and the only medical school in the commonwealth to require the curriculum for advanced practice nursing graduate students. The program addresses all 10 specific core competencies established by the Governor’s Medical Education Working Group on Prescription Drug Misuse and ensures that all UMMS nursing and medical graduates are optimally prepared as sound prescribers and are trained in the screening, prevention and management of prescription drug misuse.
The training relies heavily upon performance driven, hands-on, active learning experiences, including simulated encounters with standardized patients that replicate real world interactions that future physicians will experience in diverse patient care settings. These simulations were featured in a recent Associated Press story.
Vitello joins representatives from the state’s schools of medicine; the Massachusetts Pain Initiative; the Massachusetts Hospital Association; the pharmaceutical industry; the Massachusetts Association of Physician Assistants; and two at-large members on the special commission. Their recommendations are anticipated by the end of the year.
Related stories on UMassMedNow:
AP Big Story: UMass Medical School trains students to fight opioid abuse
UMMS Graduate School of Nursing adopts opioid conscious curriculum
Vitello named fifth dean of the Graduate School of Nursing
UMMS implements curriculum changes in current academic year to address opioid crisis
UMMS working with other Mass. medical schools, governor on opioid prescribing practices
Gov. Baker names UMMS pharmacy director to Opioid Drug Formulary Commission
