Rapid Access Network  

“RAN” was a project proposal presented at the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Challenge In partnership with the State of New York, the Office of the Staten Island Borough President, Northwell Health, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia University School of Engineering, the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech)

Mission Statement

Help people who are suffering from opioid use disorder to connect with peer advocates who can asssit them to navigate healthcare options especially in emergency situations like having an overdose. Our target user might be alone and have no one care for them and get them the help they need.

Use case

A person with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) may suffer an overdose alone. The RAN app can connect them to a Peer Advocate who can stay with them virtually or come to their assistance, depending on their proximity to the user. In some cases, a person with OUD experiencing an overdose may present themselves to an emergency department. If the department is overwhelmed with patients, they may need to wait to be triaged and could decide to leave before receiving treatment. Additionally, emergency department personnel may not be adequately trained to handle an overdose situation. A Peer Advocate from the RAN system could assist the user and help emergency personnel manage the OUD patient while awaiting treatment.

Persona

Mark, a college student, became addicted to opioids following a football injury. To manage the pain from surgery on his broken arm, he was prescribed opioids like OxyContin. However, after his legal prescriptions ran out, Mark did not properly taper his use of the medication and began experiencing withdrawal symptoms. This led him to seek out illegal drugs to satisfy his dependency.

RAN project team:

Stephanie Campbell, Tim Cheney, Maureen Farrell, Richard Isaacs; (presenter), Liya Lomsadze and Michael Rand.