OverDose Prevention Vending Machines

Since 2021, Dr. Andrea Lopez has led a UMD team that has partnered with HIPS (Honoring Individual Power and Strength) in Washington, DC to assess the implementation of overdose prevention vending machines at five sites throughout the city. The machines are funded by DC Health/HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration. Naloxone is free and available for anyone to access from the machines. Other items include syringes, safe injection supplies, hygiene supplies, and other supplies shown to reduce drug-related harms.

Our research team has a forthcoming publication titled “Public Health Vending Machines in Washington, DC: Implementation Assessment Using Combined Longitudinal Ethnographic Methods and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research,” in addition to several other analyses from this project.

We are also in the process of compiling a comprehensive report of machine output, the HIPS program enrollment survey, and our qualitative research with people who use drugs regarding their perceptions and use of the machines (expected release Jan 2027).

Why Longitudinal Ethnography in implementation Science?

Health initiatives and interventions are more than their enactment of science and evidence-based practices. They also have a “social life” that determines the level to which they are supported, how sustainable they are, and whether they are subject to political or ideological shifts that impact their implementation. This is particularly true for interventions that are primarily serving hypermarginalized populations such as people who use drugs. We use longitudinal ethnographic methods to document the social contexts for the implementation of initiatives like overdose prevention machines to understand perceptions and attitudes towards the intervention, harm reduction, and people who use drugs.

Overdose prevention machines in the media

 

·     https://www.washingtonian.com/2023/04/05/dc-health-is-deploying-narcan-vending-machines-to-prevent-opioid-overdose-deaths/

·      https://today.umd.edu/these-vending-machines-dispense-a-different-kind-of-life-savers

·      https://bsos.umd.edu/featured-content/umd-researchers-dc-nonprofit-partner-harm-reduction-vending-machine-study

·      https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/10/hips-harm-reduction-vending-machine-program/

·      https://www.metroweekly.com/2024/04/how-vending-machines-can-save-lives-in-substance-abuse-crisis/

·      https://streetsensemedia.org/article/hips-kicks-off-harm-reduction-vending-machine-pilot-program/

·      https://issuu.com/bsosumd/docs/umd_magazine_2024_final

·      https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/13/harm-reduction-vending-machines/