Shadows to Sunshine: Illuminating Paths to Wellness for Patients with Pain

Goal Statement
Educate healthcare professionals on safe prescribing practices for opioid medications, aiming to reduce the risk of addiction, misuse, overdose, and death by providing information on appropriate patient assessment, pain management strategies, and monitoring practices when prescribing opioids for pain treatment.

Target Audience
The Opioid REMS interactive program is intended to reach interprofessional and multidisciplinary healthcare teams, including physicians, advanced practice nurses, physician associates, pharmacists, and nurses. Specialty areas include but are not limited to psychiatry, neurology, family medicine, internal medicine, pain management, physiatry, and surgery. This includes healthcare professionals who are involved with direct patient care, including healthcare professionals registered with the DEA and eligible to prescribe all opioid analgesics, as well as nonprescribers involved in the care of patients receiving opioid analgesic therapy, nonpharmacologic therapies, and nonopioid medication therapies.

Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Differentiate the types of pain, including definitions, etiology, mechanisms, and risk factors

• Identify risk factors for nonmedical use and opioid use disorder as part of a thorough assessment of pain and refer to addiction medicine specialists when appropriate

• Develop individualized pain management plans considering all therapeutic options, including nonpharmacologic interventions, nonopioid medications, and opioid analgesics

• Counsel patients and caregivers on the safe use, storage, and disposal of opioid analgesics and the role of reversal agents

• Monitor patients receiving opioid therapy, including reviewing medication adherence, need for referral to pain specialist, potential for nonmedical use, and situations when it is appropriate to taper or discontinue opioid therapy

• Construct a systematic approach to screening for and appropriately managing patients with opioid use disorder