Optimizing Opioid Safety and Efficacy
Course Overview
This course will offer an extensive overview of opioids and their use in pain medicine. Opioid analgesic medications can bring substantial relief to patients suffering from pain. The patient population receiving opioid therapy for pain is diverse and exhibits a broad range of behavioral responses to opioids. To provide appropriate treatment of pain, clinicians must understand, identify, and manage these potential responses. This course will cover the various available opioid options for the treatment of pain of varying severity, with an emphasis on appropriate matching of opioid agents to patients.
Learning Outcomes
Upon the completion of this course, the learner should be able to:
- Define terms often used in discussion of opioid prescribing.
- Analyze common myths related to opioid analgesic safety.
- Recall the epidemiology of pain.
- Outline the individual and societal impact of undertreated pain.
- Describe risk factors for and comorbidities of chronic pain.
- Evaluate barriers to adequate pain care.
- Describe the endogenous opioid system and effects of opioid analgesia.
- Discuss the classification and properties of the various mu opioid receptor full agonist agents.
- Compare and contrast other types of opioid analgesics and antagonists.
- Identify pharmacokinetic factors in opioid analgesic response.
- Outline the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) guidelines for opioid prescribing for chronic pain.
- Recall other general recommendations for safe and effective long-term opioid use for chronic pain.
- Identify patient factors that affect opioid analgesic response.
- Describe issues that affect choices regarding opioid selection, rotation, and titration.
- Discuss the identification and appropriate treatment of opioid analgesic side effects.
About the Author/Presenter
Mark Rose, BS, MA, LP, is a licensed psychologist in the State of Minnesota with a private consulting practice and a medical research analyst with a biomedical communications firm. Earlier healthcare technology assessment work led to medical device and pharmaceutical sector experience in new product development involving cancer ablative devices and pain therapeutics. Along with substantial experience in addiction research, Mr. Rose has contributed to the authorship of numerous papers on CNS, oncology, and other medical disorders. He is the lead author of papers published in peer-reviewed addiction, psychiatry, and pain medicine journals and has written books on prescription opioids and alcoholism published by the Hazelden Foundation. He also serves as an Expert Advisor and Expert Witness to law firms that represent disability claimants or criminal defendants on cases related to chronic pain, psychiatric/substance use disorders, and acute pharmacologic/toxicologic effects. Mr. Rose is on the Board of Directors of the Minneapolis-based International Institute of Anti-Aging Medicine and is a member of several professional organizations.
Audience/Accreditations and Approvals
TRC Healthcare/ NetCE
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by TRC Healthcare/ NetCE. TRC Healthcare/NetCE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
This course is designed for the following healthcare professions (select your profession for details):
Nursing, Dental, Pharmacy, Physician
If you require special accommodations, please contact Colibri Healthcare Support by clicking here: Contact Us
