Successful bystander-administered intranasal naloxone reversal of opioid overdose between two veterans: A case report.

Opioid overdose-related morbidity and mortality remain one of the most pressing public health crises. Overdose education and naloxone distribution have emerged as an effective initiative for mitigating overdose deaths. This case highlights areas of patient education essential to optimizing treatment outcome when using a naloxone reversal kit. The patient is a 46-year-old white male with a past medical history significant for opioid use disorder, alcohol use disorder, stimulant use disorder, sedative-hypnotic use disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The patient received an intranasal naloxone kit during residential substance abuse treatment. Five months later, the patient requested a new kit and was asked about the disposition of his previous kit. The patient recounted how he was telephoned to pick up an unconscious friend (and fellow veteran) from a nonresidential location. Upon arrival, the patient recognized opioid products near his friend and took steps to reverse the suspected opioid overdose with his 2 mg/2 mL naloxone intranasal kit. The reversal was successful, but many critical rescue response steps were omitted. This case report may guide future changes to educating patients on appropriate responses to opioid overdoses with naloxone. A PubMed search located one other case report of successful naloxone reversal of opioid overdose in the veteran population, which involved fentanyl sold as heroin. In our case report, a veteran successfully used his naloxone kit to reverse a suspected opioid overdose in another veteran, but he incompletely provided the rescue response. This experience may influence content changes for future overdose education and naloxone distribution training.