SUPHR Trainings and Toolkits
Substance use and overdose are matters that touch all Philadelphians. While the Division of Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction (SUPHR), City agencies, and community partners work to monitor overdose trends, provide harm reduction resources, and institute policy changes to increase the health and well-being of people who use drugs in Philadelphia, we rely on clinicians, peer specialist, case managers, outreach workers, and those who work with the community to assist us in treating and educating people who use substances. Our Medical team works with clinicians, health systems and organizations, and community groups to develop best practices, trainings, and resources to advance the care of people who use substances.
On this page you can access the following trainings resources:
Overdose response videos covering overdose identification, reversals using naloxone, and using fentanyl and xylazine test strips.
Looking for harm reduction resources? Visit our get supplies page to find a supply location or have naloxone and test strips mailed to you.
Xylazine and Wound Care
Treating xylazine (tranq) associated wounds is a novel practice. Our Medical team convened a group of stakeholders, including physicians, surgeons, nurses, therapists, and public administrators, to conduct a thorough review of patient cases. Together, they developed a series of recommendations, and an associated webinar, for caring for people with xylazine-associated wounds. Visit our xylazine and wound care pages for more information.
Visit our wound care (CHANGE TO NEW PAGE) page to learn more about how to treat wounds as a provider, patient, or caregiver.
Wound Care Webinar
This webinar provides an overview of xylazine, its impact on the health of people who use drugs in Philadelphia and clinical recommendations for the treatment of xylazine-associated wounds.
Wound Care Guidelines
These recommendations were developed through a case series hosted by SUPHR and the Substance Use Response, Guidance and Education (SURGE) program at the Health Federation of Philadelphia. This report identifies 35 recommendations for best-practices across 12 topic areas in the care for individuals with xylazine-associated wounds.
Wound Care Trainings
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SUPHR, in collaboration with the PA Department of Health and The Center for Forensic Science Research & Education (CSFRE), hosted a free virtual training for clinicians covering the best practices for treating people with xylazine-associated wounds.
To view the Caring for People with Xylazine-Associated Wounds: Training for Clinicians presentation and materials, visit the archived site and follow these instructions:
Click “login”
Click “create account”
Complete account and contact details
To proceed, click “continue”
Click “enroll”
Click “checkout”
Click “proceed”
Click “click here” under “Event Access Details” to access your training
Select training under “My Courses”
Start training video under “Virtual Platform Tutorial”
Obtain certificate after completing training video
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SUPHR, in collaboration with the PA Department of Health and The Center for Forensic Science Research & Education (CSFRE), hosted a free virtual training for non-clinicians covering the best practices for treating people with xylazine-associated wounds.
To view the Caring for People with Xylazine-Associated Wounds: Training for Non-Clinicians presentation and materials, visit the archived site and follow these instructions:
Click “login”
Click “create account”
Complete account and contact details
To proceed, click “continue”
Click “enroll”
Click “checkout”
Click “proceed”
Click “click here” under “Event Access Details” to access your training
Select training under “My Courses”
Start training video under “Virtual Platform Tutorial”
Obtain certificate after completing training video
Stimulants
In 2023, 70% of overdose deaths in Philadelphia involved a stimulant. Despite the pervasiveness of stimulant use in the city, healthcare providers are often not equipped to address stimulant use disorder in clinical settings. SUPHR developed and curated resources for providers to better understand and address Stimulant Use Disorder in their practices.
For more information, visit our stimulants page.
Stimulant Toolkit
SUPHR’s Medical Team worked with the Health Federation of Philadelphia’s Substance Use Response Guidance and Education program (SURGE) to host a Stimulant focused symposium for front line workers. This toolkit includes information and data on stimulant use and the associated health risks, and clinical tools and resources.
Cocaine Action Kit
The Cocaine Use Action Kit includes stimulant focused clinical tools and resources for healthcare providers and their patients.
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Download the information guide detailing why you should discuss naloxone with all patients.
Printable Posters
These posters are designed for patient waiting rooms and provider offices to provide information on the signs, symptoms, and effects of stimulant use.
Withdrawal Management and Inpatient MOUD Prescribing
In response to the changing drug supply, specifically the frequent introduction of novel substances, Philadelphia hospitals are developing strategies and adapting protocols to improve withdrawal and substance use treatment for people who use drugs. Additionally, Pennsylvania regulation changes are sanctioning hospital methadone initiation and expanding buprenorphine access. Thus, hospitals, emergency rooms, and providers can now do more than ever to provide excellent care to Philadelphians suffering from substance use disorder.
For more information on substance use and mental health treatment, visit our treatment page.
Withdrawal Management and Methadone Initiation Webinar
In partnership with Health Federation’s SURGE, SUPHR hosted faculty to discuss the initiation and titration of methadone in hospitals, local changes in withdrawal symptoms, withdrawal best practices, and policy changes to improve transitioning patients initiated on methadone in the hospital to outpatient programs.
Withdrawal Management and Methadone Initiation Toolkit
This toolkit contains scalable and effective strategies for managing withdrawal, initiating methadone in the hospital, and ensuring post-discharge continuity of care.
Buprenorphine Prescribing Action Kit
This Buprenorphine Action Kit includes clinical tools and resources for providers and educational materials for patients.
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Download the Buprenorphine FAQ for Patients card.
Treating Perinatal Patients with Substance Use Disorder
Pregnant and postpartum (i.e., perinatal) people with substance use disorders (SUD) face enormous challenges in receiving medical care. Stigma, variability in clinical expertise in addressing perinatal SUD, and valid concerns about involvement with the child welfare system create barriers to the provision of quality care. These challenges likely contribute to high risk of fatal overdose among perinatal people with SUD. From 2017 to 2023, 37% of pregnancy-related deaths in Philadelphia were due to overdose.
Perinatal SUD webinar
This training provides healthcare professionals with strategies for caring for pregnant and postpartum patients affected by substance use, emphasizing the importance of early intervention and effective treatment strategies.
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Download the presentation slide deck
Perinatal SUD toolkit
This toolkit was created for healthcare providers and other professionals who work with perinatal people. It contains resources to reduce SUD-related stigma, information about social services and the legal system, and evidence-based guidance on the management of opioid use disorder (OUD) among perinatal people.
Language matters! Use our guide to help you discuss substance use and people who use drugs.
Combat Stigma
Health care providers play a key role in addressing the impacts of the overdose crisis. As a clinician, you can get involved and help improve care for people who use drugs by getting educated on principles of harm reduction and minimizing the stigma around drug use.
Stigma and resulting discrimination toward people who use drugs has been linked to adverse mental and physical health outcomes including decreased treatment completion and increased syringe and equipment sharing and sexual risk-taking. People who use drugs face stigma on a number of levels: internally, interpersonally/socially, and structurally.
Interpersonal/Social
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The words we use have real consequences for how people who use drugs and have substance use disorders are perceived and treated. SUPHR developed Language Matters, a language guide outlining potentially stigmatizing language and narratives and their preferred alternatives.
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A harm reduction orientation asks providers to focus on building trust, developing the therapeutic relationship, and finding mutually beneficial goals. See this Conversation Guide for Providers to learn more about how to use conversations as an opportunity to learn about your patient, their concerns and goals for their own health, as well as their motivations for use.
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Methadone and buprenorphine have been found to keep patients engaged in care and reduce all-cause and overdose-related mortality and injection-related morbidity, even when prescribed in interim capacities. Becoming trained to provide buprenorphine to patients increases much-needed access to this medication and helps to prevent further harms of the overdose crisis.
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People who use drugs benefit from the support of others with a lived experience of substance use. Studies have found that the presence of Certified Peer Specialists (CPSs) in healthcare settings can decrease substance use and increase retention in treatment and, overall, assists in establishing trust between the patient and healthcare team.
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People who use drugs deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and should be granted the same autonomy as any other patient. If you think that someone who uses drugs is facing discriminatory behavior, speak up.
Structural
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Contact-based educational interventions (talks, trainings, and workshops facilitated by people who use drugs) with medical students, substance use counselors, and police officers have been found to increase comfort working with, and overall attitudes toward, people who use drugs.
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Healthcare providers, especially clinicians, are trusted by the public, including lawmakers and law enforcement. Because of this influence, healthcare providers are well-positioned to advocate for the rights and dignity of people who use drugs. This can look like a few things including advocating for:
Low-barrier health and social services including same-day buprenorphine induction, mobile methadone, and walk-in primary care. For example, if a housing program requires that clients are sober to qualify for housing, one can discuss the benefits of housing on substance use outcomes and the evidence supporting housing first models used by programs like Pathways to Housing.
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For example, if a community group is protesting to prevent a syringe service program from opening in their neighborhood, get familiar with the evidence. According to the CDC, people who inject drugs who attend an SSP regularly are more than five times as likely to enter treatment for a substance use disorder and nearly three times as likely to report reducing or discontinuing injection than those who have never been to a program. Studies have also shown benefits to community health as SSPs reduce syringe litter, HCV transmission, and even prevented an estimated 10,000 new cases of HIV among people who inject drugs in the first 10 years of their existence in Philadelphia.
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For example, ensuring that policies dictate that urine drug screening is used as a counseling tool and that results do not result in punitive action toward clients such as removal from the program.
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Speaking up in support of laws to prevent discrimination toward people who use drugs and for amendment and repeal of laws that criminalize people who use drugs are incredibly important. Read Structural Stigma In Law: Implications And Opportunities For Health And Health Equity for examples.
Training Videos
Watch and share training videos featuring our Health Educator, Elvis Rosado, or register for a virtual overdose awareness and prevention for individuals or organizations and groups. For more information on universal precautions and tools to stay safe, visit our harm reduction page. Visit our get supplies page to get naloxone and test strips. Spanish-language versions of each video are available on PDPH’s YouTube channel.
Additional Training Resources
Local Resources:
The Health Federation of Philadelphia’s Substance Use Response Guidance and Education (SURGE) offers a wide range of capacity-building services including provider collaboratives, case review sessions, and live and recorded online trainings. These trainings cover a wide range of key areas including buprenorphine in primary care practices, best practices when working with pregnant people who use drugs, and emerging topics like xylazine wound care and withdrawal management.
Jefferson Health has a collection of free, online training videos on subjects like discussing safer injections with patients and best practices for phlebotomy when working with people who use drugs.
View this recent training from Jefferson and SUPHR: Evolving Overdose Response and Xylazine Interventions Webinar
Penn Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy (Penn CAMP) providers education for clinicians, social service providers and community members on topics such as MOUD, xylazine wound care, withdrawal management and more.
National Resources:
Grayken Center for Addiction Training and Technical Assistance (Boston Medical Center) provides education, support and capacity building to community health centers and health care and social service providers on best practices caring for patients with substance use disorders.
Clinical Education Initiative is a New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute program that provides free, CE-accredited, online courses on harm reduction and drug user health for physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, dentists, and pharmacists.
NASTAD produces resources, provides technical assistance to federal, state, and local governments and community-based harm reduction programs, and advocates for an effective science-based public health approach to address the needs of people who inject drugs.
In the Works created the eCourses and course materials they wish they had when they were running a harm reduction program. Every course is created in (paid) collaboration with people engaged in harm reduction work, including people who use drugs. A portion of the proceeds from each course goes to community collaborators and to create annual funds to distribute to organizations operating harm reduction programs in challenging environments.
National Harm Reduction Coalition builds stronger harm reduction programs through training, technical assistance, and grant-making. They also have free online resources including trainings, webinars, and eCourses.
Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) addresses the harms of drug use and drug criminalization through policy solutions, organizing, and public education. DPA publishes reports, fact sheets and other educational materials about substance use trends, policy and research.
Connect With Us
Want to learn more? Check out our events calendar to register for upcoming trainings, print more materials from our materials library, view data on our data dashboard, and read recent substance use alerts and advisories. Sign up below to receive email notifications about upcoming trainings and alerts.