Staff Education to Reduce the Incidence of Bias in Managing Patients with Opioid Use Disorder in a Rehabilitation Center

This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project addressed stigma and implicit bias toward individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) within a rehabilitation subacute care setting. OUD remains a significant public health concern and at the project site, inconsistent staff education was identified as a practice gap requiring intervention. The purpose of this practice-focused DNP project was to evaluate the impact of a structured staff education intervention on healthcare staff knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in caring for patients with OUD. The project was guided by a thorough evidence search. The project was implemented using brief, unit-based educational sessions delivered to interdisciplinary healthcare staff. Post-implementation findings demonstrated statistically significant improvements in staff knowledge with an increase in scores from a mean of 66.14 to 87.28 (t = -23.467, p