Educational Activities Archives

The prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) among older adults in the United States is rising, but remains underdiagnosed, underreported, and inadequately managed. Older adults with OUD often have medical comorbidities and are at higher risk of complications. This webinar provides guidelines for evaluating older adults with OUD, the management of opioid withdrawal syndrome and maintenance treatment of OUD, including MOUD and psychosocial interventions.

This session explores the complex relationship between nicotine and opioid use, including shared biological pathways and how co-use can intensify pain, cravings, and withdrawal. Patients may rely on nicotine to manage stress or withdrawal symptoms, creating a reinforcing cycle that complicates recovery. Integrating treatment for both conditions is increasingly recognized as essential to improving long-term outcomes.

The history of pain management in the US is fraught with changes in practice and finding new and more holistic ways to work with individuals with chronic pain for social workers and other non-prescriber providers.  In this webinar, learn about the history of pain management, how to assess risk of developing opioid use disorders, health promotion factors for people who use opioids, including overdose reversal, and macro approaches to the risks of substance misuse.

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 webinar will outline the clinical reasoning, team-based strategies and patient-centered approaches that support engagement across the perinatal continuum, with an emphasis on MOUD management, mental health treatment, trauma-informed care and child welfare planning.