More than 100 healthcare professionals from southeast Michigan attended one of the country’s premiere prescription drug abuse prevention training programs in Oakland County earlier this month.
County Executive L. Brooks Patterson was among those who spoke about continuing efforts to combat the prescription drug abuse epidemic at the SCOPE of Pain training lead by Boston University School of Medicine’s (BUSM) Dr. Daniel Alford.
“Addressing the prescription drug abuse crisis requires partnerships at every level to strengthen education, prevention, and treatment. Improving training for providers can help prevent the overprescribing of opioids that can lead to addiction and heroin use,” Patterson said. “I applaud the work of healthcare professionals and look forward to every hospital and medical center continuing their ongoing efforts to halt drug addiction through safe and effective opioid prescribing practices.”
The Oakland County Prescription Drug Abuse Partnership, facilitated by the Oakland County Health Division, hosted the training at Oakland Schools in Waterford on Saturday, October 3.
“This session targeted clinicians and addressed another important part of the solution: prescriber education,” said SCOPE of Pain Program Director Daniel P. Alford, M.D. “A recent survey by BUSM and Haymarket Medical Education showed that only 25% of physicians believe they are ‘very confident’ in their skills to manage chronic pain using opioids.”
The training covered three key issues:
• Assessing Chronic Pain and Opioid Misuse Risk.
• Initiating (or continuing) Opioid Therapy Safely.
• Assessing & Managing Aberrant Medication Taking Behavior.
“SCOPE of Pain gives clinicians the tools to effectively assess pain and opioid misuse risk and to prescribe opioids in a way that maximizes benefits and minimizes risks,” continued Alford.
Interactive clinical demonstration and a panel discussion were also included in the training. Panelists included Dr. Sarah Lerchenfeldt, professor at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine; Dr. Michael Feld, emergency department physician at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital; George J. Miller Jr., director of the Oakland County Department of Health and Human Services; and DEA Special Agent Calvin Higgins Jr.
The Oakland County Prescription Drug Abuse Partnership was started in March 2015 by the Oakland County Health Division to create a coordinated, strategic action plan for reducing prescription drug abuse and overdoses in Oakland County. For additional information, visit www.oakgov.com/health/partnerships.
SCOPE of Pain is designed to help physicians safely and effectively manage patients with chronic pain, and when appropriate, with opioid analgesics. The FDA has mandated manufacturers of extended release/long-acting (ER/LA) opioid analgesics, as part of a comprehensive Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), to make available comprehensive prescriber education in the safe use of these medications. The training is based on the FDA curriculum known as the Blueprint for Prescriber Education for Extended Release and Long-Acting Opioid (ER/LA) Analgesics. For more information, visit www.scopeofpain.com.
For up-to-date public health information, visit www.oakgov.com/health or find Public Health Oakland on Facebook and Twitter @publichealthOC.
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