Functional Pain and Opioids: Clinically Useful Strategies (enduring)

Faculty

Needs Statement

Opioids are prescribed and used inappropriately for functional pain syndromes (FPS). This course will emphasize assessing patients experiencing nociplastic pain and contrast the diagnosis and management of FPS with nociceptive and neuropathic sources of pain, as this has been identified as a significant gap in pain management practices.

Target Audience

Physicians and other healthcare practitioners who are involved in assessing and treating pain.

Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental concepts of pain management, including definitions and mechanisms of pain, by comparing nociplastic pain to nociceptive and neuroplastic origins.

• Assess patients with pain and identify potential risk factors for opioid use disorder, emphasizing Functional Pain Syndromes (FPS).

• Utilize the range of therapeutic options for managing pain, including nonpharmacologic approaches and pharmacologic (nonopioid and opioid analgesics) therapies and specific recommendations for nociplastic pain.

• Integrate opioid analgesics into a pain treatment plan individualized to meet the patient's needs and when opioids are not indicated.

• Manage patients on opioid analgesics safely and effectively in acute and chronic pain settings, including initiating therapy, titrating, and discontinuing the use of opioid analgesics, with a focus on discontinuation of opioids in patients with FPS.

• Counsel patients and caregivers about the use of naloxone for opioid overdose.

• Refer patients to a pain specialist as appropriate.

• Utilizing the fundamental elements of addiction medicine (i.e., diagnosis, prevention, evaluation, treatment, and recovery of patients with opioid use disorder).

• Identify and manage the care of patients with opioid use disorder.

• Discuss the current information about safe opioid practices and current federal and state regulations, national guidelines, and professional organization and medical specialty guidelines on treating pain and prescribing opioids.

• Detail the use of naloxone and the importance of its availability for use by patients and caregivers in the community and home.

Accreditation

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by UK HealthCare CECentral and The France Foundation. University of Kentucky HealthCare CECentral 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.

CME
This enduring material is designated for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This training has been approved by the KBML as meeting the statutory requirements of HB1. HB1. 1122-H1.0-UK3d

IPE Competencies

• Roles/ Responsibilities
• Interprofessional Communication

CPE
This knowledge-based activity will award 1.00 contact hour (0.100 CEUs) of continuing pharmacy education credit in states that recognize ACPE providers.

Other
UK Healthcare CECentral certifies this activity for 1.00 hour of participation.

CNE
The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 1.00 nursing contact hour.

Faculty Disclosure

All planners, faculty, and others in control of educational content are required to disclose all their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months.  An ineligible company is defined as one whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.

None of the planners, faculty, and others in control of educational content for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies.

The material presented in this course represents information obtained from the scientific literature as well as the clinical experiences of the speakers. In some cases, the presentations might include discussion of investigational agents and/or off-label indications for various agents used in clinical practice. Speakers will inform the audience when they are discussing investigational and/or off-label uses.

Content review confirmed that the content was developed in a fair, balanced manner free from commercial bias. Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone commercial bias in any presentation, but it is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation. 

Acknowledgment

This activity is jointly provided by the University of Kentucky and The France Foundation.

This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from the Opioid Analgesic REMS Program Companies.

Please see

https://opioidanalgesicrems.com/Resources/Docs/List_of_RPC_Companies.pdf 

for a listing of REMS Program Companies. This activity is intended to comply fully with the Opioid Analgesic REMS education requirements issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).