OVERVIEW

Opioids and Other Analgesics Course is organized by Ausmed Education Pty Ltd.

First Published: 20 January 2018
Updated: 17 October 2020
Expires: 26 October 2021

Target Audience:
This Ausmed Course is relevant to registered nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, especially those who may administer or prescribe opioids and analgesics as part of the management of acute, chronic and post-surgical pain.

Accreditation: 1h 5m of CPD

Course Overview:
• This Ausmed Course explores evidence-based guidelines for pain management and includes information on acute, chronic and post-surgical pharmacological pain relief using a multidisciplinary approach.
• Continue your learning with part one of the Pain Management series with Pain Management.

Need:
About 20% of Australians suffer chronic pain, and this will increase as the population ages. In up to 5% (or about one million people), the pain has a significant impact on function and quality of life. Australia’s multidisciplinary pain clinics cannot see this number of patients, therefore much of the load for managing people with chronic pain falls on general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists and nurses.

Optimal management involves both non-pharmacological and pharmacological approaches that focus on preventing disease and stopping progression, as opposed to just targeting palliation of disease. There have been many adverse events (including drug interactions) reported with many analgesics, as well as underuse and overuse of analgesia, resulting in changes to guidelines.

Purpose:
The purpose of this Ausmed Course is to provide a review of pharmacological options and their uses for effective relief of acute or chronic pain.

Topics:
• Non-opioid analgesics;
• Opioid analgesics;
• Other therapies for pain management.

Learning Outcomes:
• Demonstrate an understanding of the pharmacology of analgesics in order to facilitate safe and effective pain relief for patients.
• Apply current knowledge of non-opioid analgesics for the safe administration of these medicines.
• Use knowledge about complementary therapies for pain management to guide patients in their pain management plan.