AMERSA, Author at AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words: Training Internal Medicine Residents to Manage Chronic Pain and Prescription Opioid Misuse

Feb 18, 2020 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words: We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Training Internal Medicine Residents to Manage Chronic Pain and Prescription Opioid Misuse

Allison L. Ruff, MD; Daniel P. Alford, MD, MPH; Robert Butler; & J. Henry Isaacson, MD

Substance Abuse Vol. 38, Iss. 2, 2017

“Residents often lack the preparation to manage patients on chronic opioids for chronic pain in an outpatient setting. Our study discusses a teaching intervention for Internal Medicine residents that was implemented within the time constraints of a busy residency program and was able to improve resident confidence in skills managing patients with chronic pain, skills identifying which patients with chronic pain have developed an opioid use disorder, and understanding of how to monitor for benefit vs harm in patient on chronic opioids. It is the authors’ hope that other programs can utilize a similar curricular model to improve these same indices at their programs.”

The Authors’ Own Words: Safe and Competent Opioid Prescribing Education: Increasing Dissemination with a Train-the-Trainers Program

Feb 18, 2020 by AMERSA

Safe and Competent Opioid Prescribing Education: Increasing Dissemination with a Train-the-Trainers Program

Lara Zisblatt, EdD, MA; Sean M. Hayes, PsyD; Patrice Lazure; Ilana Hardesty; Julie L. White, MS; & Daniel P. Alford, MD, MPH

Substance Abuse Vol. 38, Iss. 1, 2017

“This study provides additional evidence of the effectiveness of education to promote guideline-based safe opioid prescribing and in particular how the Train-the-Trainer model can further disseminate this type of education to rural areas. With the ever-growing need to educate clinicians on the safe opioid prescribing practices for chronic pain, a model that does not rely on experts, who have limited time to train, is crucial. With the continued high prevalence of prescription opioid misuse, nontraditional models can help accelerate knowledge dissemination and possibly activate local leaders to help stem this growing crisis.”

The Authors’ Own Words: A Statewide SBIRT Curriculum for Medical Residents: Differential Adoption Strategies in Heterogeneous Medical Residency Programs

Feb 17, 2020 by AMERSA

A Statewide SBIRT Curriculum for Medical Residents: Differential Adoption Strategies in Heterogeneous Medical Residency Programs

Janice L. Pringle, PhD; Shannon M. Kearney, DrPH, MPH, CPH; Sherry Rickard-Aasen, MBA; Melinda M. Campopiano, MD; & Adam J. Gordon, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM, CMRO

Substance Abuse Vol. 38, Iss. 1, 2017

“This study examined the implementation of a Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) training curriculum, SMaRT, within family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, and pediatric residency programs. While the core curriculum was standard across programs, the curriculum could be modified with optional content, and presented in a number of different modes (e.g., online, face-to-face via group or individual conferences, or a hybrid of the two) to accommodate the residents, faculty, and available program resources. This is significant in that adaptable curricula, such as SMaRT, may be a viable step towards developing a nationwide training program that can more effectively and efficiently disseminate SBIRT practices across healthcare education institutions and therefore the healthcare system as a whole.”

The Authors’ Own Words: Implementation of a pharmacy consult to reduce co-prescribing of opioids and benzodiazepines in a Veteran population

Feb 17, 2020 by AMERSA

Implementation of a pharmacy consult to reduce co-prescribing of opioids and benzodiazepines in a Veteran population

Deborah Pardo, PharmD; Lacey Miller, PharmD, BCPP; & Dana Chiulli, PharmD, BCPP

Substance Abuse Vol. 38, Iss. 2, 2017

“This study describes the utility of a pharmacy prior authorization consult implemented in parallel with other facility-wide efforts to reduce benzodiazepine and opioid co-prescribing among Veterans. We believe these findings highlight a novel strategy, which utilizes clinical pharmacy specialists to decrease co-prescribing and improve patient safety related to this increasingly dangerous drug combination.”

The Authors’ Own Words: Integration and Evaluation of Substance Abuse Research Education Training (SARET) Program into a MSW Program

Feb 16, 2020 by AMERSA

Integration and Evaluation of Substance Abuse Research Education Training (SARET) Program into a MSW Program

Ellen Tuchman, PhD, MSW; Kathleen Hanley, MD; Madeline Naegle, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN; Frederick More, DDS, MS; Sewit Bereket, MPH; & Marc N. Gourevitch, MD, MPH

Substance Abuse Vol. 38, Iss. 2, 2017

“There is a pressing need to increase the number of health professionals, including social workers, conducting substance use disorders (SUD) research, especially since it has been estimated that a substantial number of substance use researchers will retire in the next decade. It is more critical than ever to educate, train and recruit more junior scientists to the area of SUD research and to mentor them effectively. The Substance Abuse Research Education Training (SARET) Program is an innovative modular SUD web-based curriculum and summer research mentorship program. This model holds promise for replication and development in MSW programs and additional inter-professional approaches. The manuscript will inform and support interested MSW programs to integrate and evaluate the SARET web-based curricula addressing core concepts of SUDs and clinical research supplemented by with summer research mentorships.”