Managing Pain at the Intersection of Serious Illness, Chronic Pain, and Substance Use Disorder

The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is partnering with RE-UP—a unique education program focused on the intersection of serious illness, chronic pain, and opioid complexity, including substance use disorder—to offer this workshop.

Chronic pain management for patients living with a serious illness is complicated. What are the lowest-risk, highest-benefit strategies to improve patient quality of life? How can clinicians understand and comply with opioid regulations? What does the science tell us about safety and prescribing best practices for chronic pain with concurrent serious illness? What tools do clinicians have to confidently manage pain for patients with opioid use disorder or another substance use disorder?

This interactive two-hour workshop will answer these questions, and more, through a variety of patient case examples. Faculty will illustrate decision-making criteria for safe chronic pain management for patients with serious illness, and introduce buprenorphine as a gold standard treatment for patients with opioid use disorder—a safer alternative for many patients with serious illness and chronic pain. After learning how to prescribe buprenorphine, attendees will receive practical, evidence-based tools and references to support safe and effective prescribing.

Clinicians from all care settings, working with all patient populations, are encouraged to attend. CAPC membership is NOT required, but members receive discounted registration.

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify five criteria of substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder
• Explain the concept of long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain
• Identify four reasons to use buprenorphine for chronic pain management or treating opioid use disorder in patients with serious illness
• Review seven steps to initiating buprenorphine
• Describe safe buprenorphine prescribing, including dosing and rotation

Approval for continuing medical and nursing education credits and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credits for this activity are pending approval.

This learning activity is designed to meet the Federal MATE Act requirement for new or renewing DEA licensees for 2 hours of training on opioid or other substance use disorders and the appropriate treatment of pain.