Examining rural community pharmacists’ knowledge and practices in opioid overdose prevention and treatment services in the Southeastern United States

This is the first multi-state study to provide a comprehensive look at the knowledge and practices related to opioid overdose prevention and treatment services for OUD across rural community pharmacists in the Southeastern United States. While no major differences in knowledge based on rurality or practice experience were found, there was low implementation of key overdose prevention practices in these pharmacies, particularly overdose counseling and naloxone offering. These findings highlight that the barriers are not related to pharmacist knowledge, but rather service implementation.