Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based Intervention
Introduction Despite the prevalence of pain in patients with serious illness, recent guidelines for opioid prescribing practices have largely excluded palliative care patients. In lieu of such guidelines, many have recommended adapting risk mitigation strategies from the chronic pain arena for palli...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association of American Medical Colleges
2020-10-01
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| Series: | MedEdPORTAL |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mededportal.org/doi/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11006 |
| _version_ | 1818913608540618752 |
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| author | Alana Sagin Sharon M. Kimberly Jill P. Farabelli Kava Schafer Pallavi Kumar Tanya J. Uritsky |
| author_facet | Alana Sagin Sharon M. Kimberly Jill P. Farabelli Kava Schafer Pallavi Kumar Tanya J. Uritsky |
| author_sort | Alana Sagin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction Despite the prevalence of pain in patients with serious illness, recent guidelines for opioid prescribing practices have largely excluded palliative care patients. In lieu of such guidelines, many have recommended adapting risk mitigation strategies from the chronic pain arena for palliative care and oncology populations. Teaching interventions are needed to demonstrate how these methods can be applied to patients with serious illness. Methods We developed a teaching intervention for fourth-year medical students to improve knowledge about safe opioid prescribing practices in palliative care patients and emphasized both effective and safe pain management. A secondary aim of the intervention was to demonstrate how a palliative care interdisciplinary team works together to care for a complex patient near the end of life. The intervention lasted 1 hour and consisted of an interdisciplinary case presentation as well as a slide presentation. Results Twenty-two medical students attended the session over 2 years. After the intervention, medical students better understood risk mitigation strategies and felt more strongly that opioids can be a useful tool in treating pain for patients with serious illness. Students' familiarity with palliative care interdisciplinary roles also improved after the intervention. Discussion This session was a useful part of a palliative care 2-week classroom elective and was well received by students. The development of a survey tool that assesses student attitudes around effective and safe pain management in patients with serious illness may be of use to others who teach pain management in palliative care populations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T23:33:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-60e0e8db48834dd68674bcfd45f0492e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2374-8265 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T23:33:12Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Association of American Medical Colleges |
| record_format | Article |
| series | MedEdPORTAL |
| spelling | doaj.art-60e0e8db48834dd68674bcfd45f0492e2022-12-21T20:01:41ZengAssociation of American Medical CollegesMedEdPORTAL2374-82652020-10-011610.15766/mep_2374-8265.11006Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based InterventionAlana Sagin0Sharon M. Kimberly1Jill P. Farabelli2Kava Schafer3Pallavi Kumar4Tanya J. Uritsky5Assistant Professor, Palliative Care, University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of MedicineLicensed Clinical Social Worker, Palliative Care, Hospital of the University of PennsylvaniaLicensed Clinical Social Worker, Palliative Care, Hospital of the University of PennsylvaniaChaplain, Palliative Care, Hospital of the University of PennsylvaniaAssistant Professor, Hematology Oncology and Palliative Care, University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of MedicineClinical Pharmacy Specialist, Pain Medication Stewardship, Hospital of the University of PennsylvaniaIntroduction Despite the prevalence of pain in patients with serious illness, recent guidelines for opioid prescribing practices have largely excluded palliative care patients. In lieu of such guidelines, many have recommended adapting risk mitigation strategies from the chronic pain arena for palliative care and oncology populations. Teaching interventions are needed to demonstrate how these methods can be applied to patients with serious illness. Methods We developed a teaching intervention for fourth-year medical students to improve knowledge about safe opioid prescribing practices in palliative care patients and emphasized both effective and safe pain management. A secondary aim of the intervention was to demonstrate how a palliative care interdisciplinary team works together to care for a complex patient near the end of life. The intervention lasted 1 hour and consisted of an interdisciplinary case presentation as well as a slide presentation. Results Twenty-two medical students attended the session over 2 years. After the intervention, medical students better understood risk mitigation strategies and felt more strongly that opioids can be a useful tool in treating pain for patients with serious illness. Students' familiarity with palliative care interdisciplinary roles also improved after the intervention. Discussion This session was a useful part of a palliative care 2-week classroom elective and was well received by students. The development of a survey tool that assesses student attitudes around effective and safe pain management in patients with serious illness may be of use to others who teach pain management in palliative care populations.http://www.mededportal.org/doi/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11006Palliative CareOpioid Risk MitigationPain ManagementInterdisciplinary TeamOpioids |
| spellingShingle | Alana Sagin Sharon M. Kimberly Jill P. Farabelli Kava Schafer Pallavi Kumar Tanya J. Uritsky Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based Intervention MedEdPORTAL Palliative Care Opioid Risk Mitigation Pain Management Interdisciplinary Team Opioids |
| title | Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based Intervention |
| title_full | Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based Intervention |
| title_fullStr | Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based Intervention |
| title_full_unstemmed | Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based Intervention |
| title_short | Teaching Pain Management in Serious Illness in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic: A Team-Based Intervention |
| title_sort | teaching pain management in serious illness in the era of the opioid epidemic a team based intervention |
| topic | Palliative Care Opioid Risk Mitigation Pain Management Interdisciplinary Team Opioids |
| url | http://www.mededportal.org/doi/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11006 |
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