An Interprofessional Approach to Chronic Pain Management and Education.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The opioid epidemic highlights the importance of evidence-based practices in the management of chronic pain and the need for improved resident education focused on chronic pain treatment and controlled substance use. We present the development, implementation, and outcomes of a novel, long-standing interprofessional safe prescribing committee (SPC) and resulting policy, protocol, and longitudinal curriculum to address patient care and educational gaps in chronic pain management for residents in training. METHODS: The SPC developed and implemented an opioid prescribing policy, protocol, and longitudinal curriculum in a single, community-based residency program. We conducted a postcurriculum survey for resident graduates to assess impact of knowledge gained. We conducted a retrospective chart review for patients on chronic opioid therapy to assess change in morphine equivalent dosing (MED) and pain scores pre- and postintervention. RESULTS: A postcurriculum survey was completed by 20/26 (77%) graduates; 18/20 (90%) felt well-equipped to manage chronic pain based on their residency training experience. We completed a retrospective chart review on 57 patients. We found a significant decrease in MED (-20.34 [SE 5.12], P<.0001) at intervention visit with MED reductions maintained through the postintervention period (-9.43 per year additional decrease [SE 5.25], P=.073). We observed improvement in postintervention pain scores (P=.017). CONCLUSIONS: Our study illustrates the effectiveness of an interprofessional committee in lowering prescribed opioid doses and enhancing chronic pain education in a community-based residency setting.

Tips and tools for safe opioid prescribing.

This review-with tables summarizing opioid options, dosing considerations, and recommendations for tapering-will help you provide rigorous Tx for noncancer pain while ensuring patient safety.

Evaluation of medication adherence in chronic disease at a federally qualified health center.

BACKGROUND: While medication adherence in chronic disease has been evaluated in the general population, limited data are available among Medicaid recipients, especially within federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). This study determined baseline medication adherence for Medicaid recipients receiving care in an FQHC for first-line medications used in hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes. Secondary outcomes included baseline adherence for individual patient factors. METHODS: Patients from the Salud Family Health Centers, an FQHC with a large percentage of both Spanish-speaking patients and providers, were included in this study. Using retrospective prescription claims reports from 1 January 2015 to 1 October 2015, medication possession ratios (MPRs) and proportion of days covered (PDC) were calculated for each medication group. Patients with adherence ⩾0.80 were considered adherent. RESULTS: From 1034 individual patients, 1788 medications were evaluated. Using MPRs, adherence rates were highest among medications for hypertension (67.2% adherent), followed by hyperlipidemia (67.0%), and lastly diabetes (58.0%); p < 0.001. Likewise, using PDC, adherence rates were highest for medications for hypertension (56.6%), followed by hyperlipidemia (52.2%), and lastly diabetes (45.0%); p = 0.010. Lower rates of adherence were seen among men, patients age 18-29 years old, African Americans, and patients with English documented as their preferred language. CONCLUSIONS: Although overall medication adherence rates within our FQHC patients were comparable with those in previous literature, differences seen among medication groups and patient individual factors suggest that there is still much to be learned in improving adherence. Future efforts will require a multifaceted approach, tailored to patient-specific needs.