In direct response to the ongoing opioid epidemic, which has been devastating lives and leaving health systems struggling to cope, ICAP has created a practical, results-driven toolkit to equip nurses and other frontline health workers with the essential information and tools they need to care for people and communities affected by opioid use disorders.
The Approaches for Nurse-led, Community-wide Opioid Responses (ANCOR) toolkit provides a valuable new resource designed to provide nurses and other health care professionals working on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic with up-to-date information on evidence-based tools and practices that can be immediately applied to their interactions with individual patients, their families, and the community at large.
ANCOR Toolkit
This toolkit is written for nurses and other health care workers eager to engage in the opioid response, yet you do not need a nursing degree to use or benefit from this toolkit. Whether you are a seasoned health worker with experience treating substance use disorders or a community health leader eager to learn more, this toolkit is for you. Many types of public health workers, including first responders, social workers, doctors, pharmacists, and others, should find this toolkit useful.
The ANCOR toolkit draws upon the insights and knowledge of the nurses and other public health and safety professionals who generously shared their time and perspectives with our team. It also reflects the experience, expertise, and contributions of multiple ICAP at Columbia University staff.
Community Response Dashboard
(Last updated September 2019)
A key feature of the toolkit is the ANCOR Dashboard, which tracks the maturity of local community responses. The dashboard is designed to help communities assess their response to the opioid crisis in relation to both their own baseline and an exemplar or “model” response. It is comprised of several domains, each of which is critical to a comprehensive response: Stakeholder Coordination, Community Engagement, Pain Management Approach, Training, and Leadership Development. The dashboard is intended to look across individual and organizational efforts to the community level, and to measure incremental progress over time at appropriate intervals.
Stakeholder Coordination*
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
Community Engagement**
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
Pain Management Approach
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
Harm Reduction Approach
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
Data Use for Program Response
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
Training
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
Leadership Development
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
- Stage 5
* Stakeholders may include community representatives (see below), government agencies, community-based services organizations, healthcare providers, drug treatment providers, law enforcement and correctional institutions, and emergency/first responders
** Community representatives may include persons with OUD, families, faith communities, advocates for persons with OUD, and others affected by OUD in communities
The toolkit and project were funded by Johnson & Johnson, in alignment with their long-term commitment to supporting nurses on the frontlines of health care. The funder had no involvement in research or content development for this toolkit. Its ideas and content are solely the product of ICAP.
