Optimizing Opioid Overdose Response: Compassion During Crisis
Monday, February 23, 2026 | 4:00pm - 5:30pm ET
Virtual-Live Course
Overview
This 90-minute course equips healthcare professionals with the essential knowledge, skills, and confidence to educate patients, families, and caregivers about opioid overdose prevention and response, including naloxone use. The course provides comprehensive knowledge of overdose risk factors, overdose recognition, and overdose response. Person-centered, non-stigmatizing communication is emphasized to improve confidence and effectiveness in discussing harm reduction and overdose prevention. By the end of the course, learners will be equipped to integrate overdose prevention strategies into their everyday practice, effectively and compassionately manage overdose events, promote harm reduction, and contribute to improved patient safety and outcomes across various healthcare settings
The target audience for this introductory level activity includes: Physicians, advanced practice practitioners, nurses, dentists, medical assistants, social workers, peer recovery specialists, and other healthcare professionals across diverse care settings, seeking to lead overdose prevention efforts.
This activity addresses the following ACGME Competencies: Patient-Centered Care, Medical Knowledge, Practice Based Learning and Improvement, and Interpersonal and Communication Skills.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion, learners will be able to:
Recognize risk factors for opioid overdose.
Identify the signs and symptoms of opioid overdose and respond effectively and compassionately.
Describe naloxone formulations, acquisition, and appropriate dosing.
Engage patients compassionately in the aftermath of an overdose, including re-orienting the patient, addressing safety, and connecting to care.
Apply harm reduction principles in clinical practice to mitigate overdose risk and provide education to patients, families, and caregivers.
Registration Rates
ASAM Learner Type
Rate
ASAM Member
$0
Non-Member
$0
Associate Member
$0
Resident Member*
$0
Student Member*
$0
*Residents, Fellows-in-training, Interns, and Students must join ASAM to receive a discounted registration rate.Click here to become an ASAM member. National and Chapter membership dues apply. There is no charge for Students to become a Member, but verification of student status is required.
Membership Question? Call ASAM at 1.301.656.3920, email us, or view the ASAM website for more information.
Refunds & Cancellations
All ASAM e-Learning Center refund requests must be made in writing to Education@ASAM.org within 90 days of purchase. Those requesting refunds for courses that are in progress will receive partial refunds or e-Learning Center credit.
Automatic full refunds will be made for any course with a live-course component that has been cancelled.
Open Registration: 1/5/2025 - 03/02/2026
Close Access Date: 2/23/2029
Acknowledgement
This content has been made available in part by an unrestricted educational grant from Emergent BioSolutions. No input or influence from Emergent BioSolutions was included in the development of the educational content. As an ACCME Provider, ASAM follows the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence for Accredited Continuing Education stating that owners and employees of ineligible companies are excluded from participating as planners or faculty, and must not be allowed to influence or control any aspect of the planning, delivery, or evaluation of accredited continuing education.
Instructions
Click on the Contents tab to begin this activity.
Click Complete Post Test to answer multiple choice questions. Participants will have 10 attempts to pass and must answer 4 out of 5 questions correctly.
Click Complete Evaluation and Complete Presenter Evaluation to provide valuable activity feedback. Scroll down on all questions as there may be answer options that expand past the size of the window.
Click the button Claim Medical Credits in the box titled Claim Credits & Certificate. Choose the type of credit and click submit. Click the button View/Print Certificate to save or print your certificate. You can view/print your certificate at any time by visiting the ASAM e-Learning Center, clicking Dashboard, and clicking Transcript/Achievements.
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Jessie Gaeta, MD
Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Jessie M. Gaeta, MD is an Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician who has cared for patients at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program since 2002, serving as Chief Medical Officer from 2015–2022. An Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University Medical Center and Associate Program Director of its Addiction Medicine Fellowship, she completed medical school at the University of Maryland, residency and Chief Residency at Boston Medical Center, and a Physician Advocacy fellowship at Columbia. Dr. Gaeta is dedicated to improving care and advancing advocacy for people with substance use disorders—particularly those disconnected from traditional healthcare—and has led innovative initiatives in partnership with people with lived experience to address homelessness, opioid use disorder, and health inequities shaped by poverty, racism, trauma, and stigma.
No relevant financial disclosures.
Tehya Johnson, BSN, MSN, AGPCNP-BC
Associate Medical Director of Harm Reduction and Primary Care NP
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Tehya Johnson, MSN, AGPCNP-BC is a Public Health Nurse Practitioner at Project Trust, and Clinical Nurse Educator at the Grayken Center for Addiction Training and Technical Assistance, through Boston Medical Center. As a nurse practitioner, she provides vital harm reduction, substance use treatment, and medical support services to people at the intersection of homelessness and substance use disorders, through low-threshold services and outreach. At the Grayken Center, she contributes to the development and delivery of continuing education programs, peer-reviewed publications, evidence-based clinical guidelines, and other resources for providers supporting patients with substance use disorders. She has been deeply involved in statewide advocacy for the development of overdose prevention centers in Massachusetts with SIFMA Now, and serves as a Board Member at the Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) in Cambridge, MA. She began her nursing career as a Registered Nurse and then transitioned to become a Primary Care Provider and the Associate Medical Director of Harm Reduction Services at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. She has a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Neuroscience from Northeastern University working in preclinical research related to substance use prior to her training in nursing. She received her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) in 2020 from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions.
No relevant financial disclosures.
Ruchi Shah, DO
Assistant Professor General Internal Medicine, Medical Director of Wakefield Hospital Addiction Medicine Consult Service
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Ruchi Shah, DO (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center & Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is the medical director of the new Wakefield Hospital Addiction Medicine Consult Service and also provides primary care, addiction medicine, and reproductive healthcare outpatient. She completed her family medicine residency and addiction medicine fellowship training at Boston Medical Center. Ruchi strives to turn her big feelings into meaningful change and is grateful for the privilege of partnering with and learning from PWUD in their care.
No relevant financial disclosures.
Alexander Y. Walley, MD, MSc
Associate Professor of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
Alexander Y. Walley, M.D., M.Sc., (he/him/his) is Professor of Medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and HIV primary care physician and addiction specialist at Boston Medical Center whose research is focused on overdose prevention. He is the director of the Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit. He is past president of the American College of Academic Addiction Medicine. He was a founding director of the Grayken Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program at Boston Medical Center from 2011-2022. With colleagues, he founded Boston Medical Center’s inpatient addiction consult service and walk-in substance use care bridge clinic. He serves as the medical director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, the Overdose Prevention Program, and the SafeSpot Overdose Prevention Hotline.
In support of improving patient care, the American Society of Addiction Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
American Society of Addiction Medicine has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7062. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. American Society of Addiction Medicine is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Maintenance of Certification (MOC)/Continuing Certification Program (CCP)
This activity is designed to meet the requirements for MOC/CCP for several primary physician boards and for state licensing CME requirements. MOC Credit is only reported and designated for ABA, ABP, ABIM, and ABS. By completing the online credit application and evaluation, the learner permits ASAM to report credits to the appropriate Board. Learn more.
ABIM MOC Points: 1.5 Medical Knowledge | 1.5 Patient Safety
ABP MOC: 1.5 Lifelong Learning & Self-Assessment
ABS Continuing Certification: 1.5 Accredited CME
ABA MOCA 2.0®*: 1.5 Lifelong Learning | 1.5 Patient Safety MOCA 2.0® is a trademark of the American board of Anesthesiology®. This activity contributes to the CME requirement for Part II: Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment of the American board of Anesthesiology's (ABA) redesigned Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program® (MOCA®), known as MOCA 2.0®. Please consult the ABA website, https://www.theaba.org/, for a list of all MOCA 2.0 requirements.
Additionally, this activity has been designed to satisfy the requirements of the following primary physician board certification requirements. Please confirm with your individual Board.
American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM)
American Board of Preventative Medicine (ABPM)
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN)
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)
Certificates for other professions
All participants may request a certificate of participation upon completion of the activity and an online evaluation confirming their participation. Learners are strongly advised to contact their professional licensing board or professional association to confirm this certificate will be accepted as evidence supporting continuing education requirements.
California Association for Drug/Alcohol Educators (CAADE)
This educational program is approved by CAADE: #CP40 999 1225.
California Association of DUI Treatment Centers (CADTP)
This educational program is approved by CADTP: #205.
California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP)
This educational program is approved by CCAPP: #OS-20-330-0227.
Disclosure Information
In accordance with the disclosure policies of ASAM and Joint Accreditation, the effort is made to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all accredited continuing education activities. These policies include identifying and mitigating all relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies for those involved in the creation and dissemination of accredited continuing education.
The complete list of disclosures and designation statements are linked below.
Attend Virtual-Live Course- Monday, February 23, 2026
02/23/2026 at 4:00 PM (EST) | 90 minutes
02/23/2026 at 4:00 PM (EST) | 90 minutes
Learners may join 15 minutes prior to start time. Audio is available via computer or mobile device speakers/headphones only. There is no option to join via telephone.
Up to 1.50 medical credits available | Certificate available
Up to 1.50 medical credits available | Certificate available
Attendees should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
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