OVERVIEW

Opioids 2022: New Guidelines, Ongoing Challenges is organized by The University of Chicago - Center for Continuing Medical Education.

Activity Created: 01/30/2023
Activity Expires: 01/29/2026

Description:
In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at increased rates. More opioid promotion led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive.

In 2017 the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency. Experts agree that healthcare professionals need more education to face the many challenges of this crisis. Additionally, the CDC recently issued an updated Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain, and healthcare professionals need to know how these updates affect their practice.

This activity’s goals are to explain updates to the CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, review the epidemiology of the opioid overdose epidemic, and review the diagnosis and treatment of opioid use disorder. Participants will have the skills to manage opioid use disorder effectively in their practices.

Learning Objectives:
After this activity, participants will be able to:

Summarize updates to the CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain;
Identify opioid harm reduction strategies;
State evidence-based principles of opioid use disorder management;
Discuss how to apply opioid use disorder management principles to practice;
Describe how opioids affect different areas of Chicago.