Educational Activities Archives

Sound ethics and boundaries are critical to the provision of Substance Use Disorder treatment. Ethical behaviors and boundaries support a client’s treatment process, foster a positive client recovery environment, and promote service engagement. On the other hand, challenges related to unethical practices and boundaries can impact the professionals’ well-being, resulting in negative job consequences. In this training, participants will reflect on their experiences with ethical dilemmas and explore strategies to deliver effective and professional care to SUD clients.

This module reviews introductory information regarding pain, different types of pain, acute versus chronic pain, and how to perform a pain evaluation. It describes a comprehensive pain assessment integrating a socio-psycho-biological approach and identifies the impact of psychosocial factors, including mental health, on the pain experience.

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.

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.

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.

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.