Educational Activities Archives

This webinar will focus on the crucial role of the emergency department (ED) in recognizing and treating opioid use disorder (OUD) patients with evidence-based medications for addiction treatment.

Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based approach to managing patients with or at risk for SUD. This is a standardized core curriculum in SUD and SBIRT, designed for U.S. dental schools. Dental students who take and pass the curriculum modules would have achieved an understanding of the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed to carry out SBIRT in a dental setting. 

Pregnant and postpartum women with OUD face fragmented and siloed health care, systemic barriers, stigma and multifaceted challenges, which contribute to adverse outcomes and significant negative consequences for individuals and society. Methadone is an essential component of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) treatment, with substantial evidence highlighting its benefits for maternal-and-fetal-health. This webinar will discuss emerging evidence of rapid and split dose methadone initiation for perinatal patients in the hospital setting, and the utility of offering whole person approach and linkage to follow up OTP care.

Medical complications are common among patients who inject drugs. Signs and symptoms of acute or chronic infectious diseases often prompt patients to seek medical care. The time of presentation for complications related to injection drug use presents an opportunity to screen and employ early intervention strategies and engage individuals in addiction treatment. This course reviews features of skin and soft tissue infections among people who inject drugs, reviews risk factors for Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV, describes prevention interventions for HCV and HIV, and discusses treatment approaches for HCV and HIV in patients with opioid use disorder.

This activity reviews the following key data points which are important to primary care physicians: 1) the current epidemiologic data on drug-drug interactions between opioids and other medications, 2) possible explanations for increases in drug-drug interactions, 3) physiological and pharmacokinetic basis for adverse drug interactions, and 4) strategies for reducing risk for adverse drug interactions.

Substance Use Disorders in Older Adults is a growing problem not only in the United States but throughout the developed world. The Baby Boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, is turning 62-80 years old this year. This group is presenting with more Substance Use Disorders and need for substance use treatment now. The use of an artificial cut off age of 65 years as the definition of elderly or old is arbitrary, and this will be discussed. The course will look at the prevalence, screening and treatment of non-medical use of prescription drugs and illicit opioids, as well as use of tobacco, alcohol, stimulants and cocaine, marijuana, and non-opioid sedative hypnotic agents. There are interactive questions throughout the course to help digest and discuss the information presented.