Video for Self-Management of Xylazine-Associated Wounds
This video shows how to treat xylazine-associated wounds. It is also available through scanning the QR codes in the wound care booklet.
Accede a la versión en español aquí.
Interventions to Address Xylazine
What is Xylazine?
Xylazine, or “tranq,” is a veterinary medicine not approved for human use. Emerging research by our team and others show that xylazine is associated with often severe wounds, complex withdrawal, and safety concerns due to its heavily sedating effects.
Xylazine is increasingly detected across the United States, with a five times higher presence in national overdose deaths in 2020 compared with 2015. Philadelphia is considered the epicenter of xylazine adulteration of fentanyl and in response, people who use opioids and those providing services to them in Philadelphia have been seeking strategies to mitigate xylazine harms.
This project, called “community-informed approaches to the escalating presence of xylazine in opioids,” was a partnership between Thomas Jefferson University and Brandeis University.
Our Approach
The goal of this study was to learn from the experiences of people who use opioids in Philadelphia, an early locus of xylazine emergence, to develop person-centered approaches to mitigate the impact of xylazine as it emerges as an adulterant in other markets nationally.
We did this in three steps:
1
We interviewed people using xylazine in Philadelphia and other content experts who provide services like wound care to people who use drugs. Data with people who use xylazine was collected with community researchers who use xylazine. We partnered with Project SAFE, a grassroots, direct-service, and peer-based harm reduction organization, on this part of the project.
2
We presented results to people who use xylazine and other content experts and used a method called co-design to select and map out three interventions.
3
We worked with a design team and a production company to bring the interventions to life. We presented them to focus groups in rural, suburban, and urban locations in Massachusetts and used feedback to refine the interventions. Some focus groups were held in Spanish and one focus group was made entirely of women.
The Interventions
The interventions are a skincheck poster, a guide to self-care of wounds with embedded demonstration videos, and a webinar about modifying overdose response protocols when xylazine or other sedatives are in the drug supply for people who respond to overdoses.
You can download or link to these products as needed.
Skincheck Poster
This poster can be displayed anywhere, but we think it will be especially helpful in bathrooms or other areas where people can do a quick skincheck.
We designed the poster to be easily downloadable in color or black and white.
Guide to Self-Care of Wounds
This booklet has information on how to use common wound care kit materials, as well as general information about xylazine-associated wounds. QR codes within the booklet link to videos in both English and Spanish about how to take care of your own wounds. Content was created in partnership with wound care nurses working in the community.
We designed the booklet to be easily downloadable in color or black and white.
Webinar for People Who Respond to Overdoses
Fentanyl overdoses increasingly have xylazine or other sedatives “on board”. People may appear to be overdosing when they are actually heavily sedated and need monitoring. This one-hour webinar is intended to help programs update their overdose response protocols when sedatives are in their local drug supply. Contents include xylazine basics, responding to an overdose with sedatives on board, different forms of naloxone, compassionate comebacks, and other tools programs may consider when responding to overdoses. Originally intended to discuss xylazine, we expanded to discuss multiple sedatives given the rise of medetomidine and other sedatives in the drug supply.