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CE / CME

Getting Comfortable with Discomfort: An Expert's Guide to Safe Opioid Use

Credits Only

Thank you for participating in our live program.

Please click on “Claim Credit” to answer 3 questions and complete the evaluation to claim your credit for this program.

Nurse Practitioners/Nurses: 2.00 Nursing contact hours, including 2.00 hours of pharmacotherapy credit

Pharmacists: 2.00 contact hours (0.2 CEUs)

Physician Assistants/Physician Associates: 2.00 AAPA Category 1 CME credits

Physicians: maximum of 2.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits

Released: January 16, 2026

Expiration: February 22, 2026

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Provided by

Provided by Clinical Care Options (CCO), LLC, dba Decera Clinical.

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Supporters

This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from the Opioid Analgesic REMS Program Companies.

Please see https://www.opioidanalgesicrems.com/Resources/Docs/List_of_RPC_Companies.pdf for a listing of REMS Program Companies. This activity is intended to be fully compliant with the Opioid Analgesic REMS education requirements issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Opioid Analgesic REMS Program Companies

Target Audience

The Opioid REMS interactive program is intended to reach interprofessional and multidisciplinary healthcare teams, including physicians, advanced practice nurses, physician associates, pharmacists, and nurses. Specialty areas include but are not limited to psychiatry, neurology, family medicine, internal medicine, pain management, physiatry, and surgery. This includes HCPs who are involved with direct patient care, including HCPs registered with the DEA and eligible to prescribe all opioid analgesics, as well as nonprescribers involved in the care of patients receiving opioid analgesic therapy, nonpharmacologic therapies, and nonopioid medication therapies.

Program Learning Goal

Educate HCPs on safe prescribing practices for opioid medications, aiming to reduce the risk of addiction, misuse, overdose, and death by providing information on appropriate patient assessment, pain management strategies, and monitoring practices when prescribing opioids for pain treatment.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

  • Differentiate the types of pain, including definitions, etiology, mechanisms, and risk factors

  • Identify risk factors for nonmedical use and opioid use disorder as part of a thorough assessment of pain and refer to addiction medicine specialists when appropriate

  • Develop individualized pain management plans considering all therapeutic options, including nonpharmacologic interventions, nonopioid medications, and opioid analgesics

  • Counsel patients and caregivers on the safe use, storage, and disposal of opioid analgesics and the role of reversal agents

  • Monitor patients receiving opioid therapy, including reviewing medication adherence, need for referral to pain specialist, potential for nonmedical use, and situations when it is appropriate to taper or discontinue opioid therapy

  •  Construct a systematic approach to screening for and appropriately managing patients with opioid use disorder

Disclosure

Primary Author

Michael Sprintz, DO, DFASAM: consultant/advisor/speaker: Advanced Genomics Laboratory, Patch Technologies, Spark Biomedical, Tafalgie Therapeutics; owner: Affect Therapeutics, Cellarian; individual publicly traded stock/stock options: Bridge Therapeutics.

Amanda Zimmerman, PA-C: consultant/advisor/speaker: Averitas.