Pain Core Curriculum

The PCSS-MOUD Pain Core Curriculum, developed by Melissa Weimer, DO, MCR, FASAM and Roger Chou, MD, FACP, and Kevin Sevarino, MD, PhD is a comprehensive educational curriculum for clinicians and healthcare professionals treating pain and addressing concerns related to opioid use disorder (OUD).

Presented by clinical experts from a variety of professional backgrounds, this curriculum consists of 14 modules covering essential topics to enhance effective pain evaluation and treatment. The modules provide foundational knowledge on pain and its common treatments while exploring key aspects of multimodal pain treatment, including the risks associated with opioid use for the treatment of pain. The content also covers opioid use disorder (OUD), its identification, and evidence-based treatment approaches. Participants will gain expertise in patient-centered care, communication strategies, and managing pain in special populations. Additionally, the curriculum incorporates non-pharmacological therapies and insights from individuals with lived experience of pain.

Taken individually or collectively, these modules offer up-to-date and evidence-based information on best practices to treat acute and chronic pain, while incorporating awareness of and concerns about OUD. Healthcare professionals who participate in this curriculum should see an increase in their competence and confidence in treating pain.

Each stand-alone module is available at no cost and is designated for Physician, PA, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Interprofessional Continuing Education Credits.  See individual module descriptions for more information including length and amount of credit designated for each activity.

Target Audience: This activity is designed for physicians, advanced practice professionals, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, residents/fellows, health professional students, and other mental health clinicians. This activity is accredited for physicians, nurses, PAs, pharmacists, interprofessional teams, and other health professionals.

Credit Designations Available: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit

Please email us with any questions.

Opioid Response Network
PCSS-MOUD

Funding for this initiative was made possible by cooperative agreement no.1H79TI086770 and grant no. 1H79TI085588 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Course Listing

1: Basics of Chronic Pain Evaluation

Target Audience(s):
Physicians, Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, Acute Pain, Chronic Pain, General Medical Comorbidities, Pain, Pain Core Curriculum ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Melissa B. Weimer, DO, MCR, DFASAM
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
Understanding addiction is essential to successfully addressing it. In this overview of substance use disorders we discuss the spectrum of use, neurobiological responses to substances, theories that explain the disorders, public health impact and epidemiology, comorbidity, harm reduction and integrated care for this chronic condition.
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2: Basic Tenets of Pain Treatment for Common Chronic Pain Conditions

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, Acupuncture, Chronic Pain, Cognitive Behavioral, Emerging Therapies, Exercise, General Medical Comorbidities, Medications, Opioids, Pain ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Roger Chou, MD
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
Basic Tenets of Pain Treatment for Common Chronic Pain Conditions: The learner is presented with foundational information on pain treatment, with a focus on chronic pain. The module reviews material on the sociopsychobiological model of pain and how that impacts treatment approaches, the evidence for pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies for pain, and the recommended strategies for managing chronic pain.
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3: Evidence for and Management of Opioids for Chronic Pain

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Agonist / Partial Agonist Withdrawal, Antagonist, Chronic Pain, Full Agonists, General Medical Comorbidities, Opioids, Opioids, Pain, Partial Agonists ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Roger Chou, MD
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
Participants who engage in this activity will understand opioid pharmacology and evidence on benefits and harms of opioid therapy for chronic pain. Additionally, participants learn risk factors for opioid overdose and OUD, risk assessment of patients for long-term opioid therapy, methods for mitigating risks of opioid therapy, and approaches for discontinuing or tapering opioids.
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4: Optimizing Acute Pain Care: Implementing Multimodal Treatments Across Clinical Settings

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Acute Pain, Chronic Pain, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, General Medical Comorbidities, Implementation, Medications, Pain, Perioperative Pain, Treatment ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Mark Bicket, MD, PhD, FASA
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
This activity focuses on the assessment and management of pain using multimodal treatments that reduce the reliance on opioid analgesics. Learners are introduced to information on the principles, mechanisms, and frameworks relevant to multimodal analgesia, with an emphasis on non-pharmacological techniques and non-opioid medications. Applications of multimodal treatments for pain to various clinical settings are reviewed, as well as relevant case studies for the treatment of acute and sub-acute pain.
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5: Opioid Risk Assessment, Mitigation, and Management

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, Acute Pain, Antagonist, General Medical Comorbidities, Laboratory, Medications, Naloxone, Opioids, Opioids, Pain ...
Organizer(s):
Opioid Response Network, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
Presenter(s):
Daniel G. Tobin, MD, FACP
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
This activity focuses on the assessment, mitigation and management of risk when prescribing opioids for analgesia. Learners are introduced to the concept of universal precautions and their role in opioid therapy, as well as to practical monitoring and documentation strategies. The fundamental principles of urine drug testing and interpretation are also reviewed, as is the differential diagnosis of opioid misuse. Special attention is given to overdose prevention, naloxone co-prescribing, and how to recognize and respond to an emerging opioid use disorder when prescribing chronic opioid therapy for pain.
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6: Understanding and Assessing Opioid Use Disorder in Patients with Chronic Pain

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Basic Science, Chronic Pain, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, General Medical Comorbidities, Health Care Settings, Neurobiology of Addiction, Non-Opioid & Opioid-Sparing Pain Care, Opioids, Pain, Pain Core Curriculum ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Sara Edmond, PhD
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
Participants who engage in this activity learn to identify components of a neurobiological framework/explanatory model for patients with chronic pain and opioid use disorder, discuss complexities involved in differentiating opioid use disorder from chronic pain, and describe how to perform an opioid use disorder evaluation for a patient with chronic pain seen in primary care.
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7: Treating Pain in People with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Acute Pain, Agonist / Partial Agonist Withdrawal, Buprenorphine, Chronic Pain, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, General Medical Comorbidities, Medications, Methadone, Opioid Treatment Programs ...
Organizer(s):
Opioid Response Network, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
Presenter(s):
Laila Khalid, MD, MPH, and Michele Buonora, MD, MS, MHS
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
In this module participants review how to identify the main principles of pain treatment in opioid use disorder and to describe how these principles are applied to the treatment of acute pain as well as chronic non-terminal, non-cancer pain in OUD. Specifically, participants will learn to manage opioid withdrawal and acute pain in patients with OUD during hospitalization with and without receiving concomitant MOUD. Participants will examine strategies in formulating a multimodal pain plan for chronic pain in patients with OUD.
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8: Buprenorphine for Chronic Pain in its Various Formulations

Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Buprenorphine, Chronic Pain, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, General Medical Comorbidities, Opioids, Pain, Partial Agonists, Pharmacology ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Katie Fitzgerald Jones PhD, ACHPN, CARN-AP
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
This activity focuses on buprenorphine for the treatment of chronic pain by reviewing different formulations and the evidence-base supporting its use for chronic pain with and without Opioid Use Disorder. Participants learn how to apply the evidence of buprenorphine’s effectiveness to different patient scenarios.
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9: A Patient’s Perspective on Empowering Those with Chronic Pain Through Patient-Centered Care

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Chronic Pain, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, General Medical Comorbidities, Pain ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Christin Veasley, BS
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
This activity focuses on foundational elements of equitable, patient-centered care for people with chronic pain, with a specific focus on shared-decision making, functional goal setting and effective communication strategies. Participants learn how to empower people with chronic pain to take an active role in their care through patient-centered care approaches.
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10: Integrating Motivational Interviewing and its Application as a Pain Management Strategy

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Brief Intervention, Harm Reduction, Health Care Settings, Integrated Behavioral Health, Non-Opioid & Opioid-Sparing Pain Care, Prevention, Psychotherapeutic, Treatment ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Pat Bruckenthal, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
This activity focuses on the foundational components of Motivational Interviewing and how this approach fits into a client centered approach to care. Participants learn how to apply motivational interviewing skills within a pain management framework.
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11: Stress, Relaxation, and Mindful Breathing: A Primer

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Brief Intervention, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, General Medical Comorbidities, Health Care Settings, Non-Opioid & Opioid-Sparing Pain Care, Pain, Prevention, Psychotherapeutic, Treatment ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Kevin E. Vowles, PhD
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
This activity reviews the body’s normal response to stress and also introduces two brief behavioral exercises to aid in stress reduction and present-focused awareness. Patient explanations for both exercises are provided, as are brief experiential exercises. Sample scripts for clinician use are also included. Finally, a synopsis of the evidence for these exercises is reviewed. In short, the two techniques have evidence for moderate benefit, sometimes short-term only, and no evidence for increased risk of harm. They benefit from being brief, easy to teach, portable, and skills-based (thus skills practice likely increases potential for benefit).
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12: Keys to Communication Success in Opioid Management

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, Nurses, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Assessment, Chronic Pain, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, General Medical Comorbidities, Opioids, Pain, Pharmacology, Screening and Assessment, Withdrawal Management ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Erin E. Krebs, MD, MPH
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
This module focuses on how to approach opioid tapering in the care of patients prescribed long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain who have not been diagnosed with opioid use disorder. It describes patient perspectives on pain and opioid management, and how these may diverge from prescribers’ perspectives. It describes challenges in opioid prescribing, including opioid dependence and withdrawal, and identifies practical approaches to reducing opioids while maintaining a positive patient-clinician relationship. Participants also learn about the role of shared decision-making in opioid tapering.
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13: Pain Medication and Adolescents: Special Considerations

Target Audience(s):
Interprofessional Teams, PAs, Pharmacists, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Students and Educators
Topic(s):
Pain Core Curriculum, Acute Pain, Adolescent / At Risk Youth, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Anxiety Disorders, Chronic Pain, Co-Occurring Addiction / Medical Disorders, Co-Occurring Addiction / Psychiatric, CRAFFT, Discrimination ...
Organizer(s):
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Opioid Response Network
Presenter(s):
Elliot J. Krane, MD
Credit Available:
CE Credit(s): Yes
Designations: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, AAPA Category 1 CME, Nursing Contact Hours, Pharmacy CE Credit, Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
Participants will be introduced to the vocabulary of addiction and the root causes of addiction especially in the adolescent, as well as the epidemiology of opioid overdoses and deaths in the United States as a public health phenomenon, with particular attention paid to the decreasing rate of illicit opioid use in adolescents over the past decade. The learner will also, with this background, have reinforced the predicates of opioid misuse in adolescents and, through clinical examples, learn how to recognize possible misuse and address misuse in adolescents seen in a medical setting. Finally, safe prescribing principles will be introduced.
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Adam Bisaga, MD, 2018 Steering Committee Meeting

Mentoring

Designed for health professionals treating individuals with OUD or prescribing opioids for pain. Our experts provide support by phone, email, or in-person if logistically possible.

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