Educational Activities Archives

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.

For patients with cancer and substance use disorders, managing pain safely and effectively presents unique challenges. Clinicians must balance appropriate opioid prescribing with the risks of relapse, overdose, and fragmented care. This episode explores how addiction, oncology, and palliative care providers can work together to support both cancer treatment and recovery. Listeners will learn practical frameworks for managing cancer-related pain, coordinating care across specialties, and improving outcomes for patients navigating these intersecting and complex conditions.

Substance use during hospitalization is common, yet many healthcare systems lack clear, evidence-based approaches to respond effectively. Punitive responses can worsen outcomes, increase stigma, and lead to early discharge. This episode explores emerging best practices for addressing in-hospital substance use in ways that improve patient safety, strengthen trust, and support recovery. Listeners will learn practical strategies for proactive communication and collaborative approaches that center patient care while supporting healthcare teams navigating these complex situations.

Opioids are commonly prescribed for chronic pain, but are also associated with a risk for serious harms, including overdose and opioid use disorder. This course reviews risk factors for opioid misuse, opioid use disorder, and overdose in patients with chronic pain, explains methods for screening and assessing for problematic opioid use, reviews methods for mitigating risks associated with prescribed opioids, and details non-opioid treatment approaches for pain. The course is based on principles in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s guideline on opioids for chronic pain and reviews recent evidence on benefits and harms of opioids.

This course discusses the importance of integrating opioid use disorder (OUD) pharmacotherapy into general medical settings, and describes models in primary care, emergency rooms, and hospitals where medications for OUD treatment are successfully included as standard care. Through reviews of OUD pharmacotherapy implementation in clinical practice, participants will learn how to adapt these strategies to their own settings. The course also introduces evidence-based counseling approaches to enhance motivation, treatment engagement, and sustained remission. Standard Medical Management (SMM) will be highlighted as an efficient, structured option readily incorporated into primary care. Participants are encouraged to adapt this information for use in their own clinical practices.