Preventing Opioid Abuse in the Clinical Setting: Innovative e-Tools for Cme Delivery to Physicians, Nurses, and Other Health Care Providers

Background: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States is in the midst of a prescription drug abuse epidemic, with opioid misuse of particular concern. In response, in 2009 the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) launched its on-line outreach initiative, NIDAMED, to help physicians, medical students, and other clinicians better address this complex problem. Through NIDAMED, materials from NIDA Centers of Excellence (CoE) have been made available online, and include resources to help clinicians provide screening, brief interventions, and treatment referrals for non-medical prescription drug use, as well as for alcohol and other substance use.

Program background: This project has focused on the development of an innovative approach to making these NIDAMED resources more accessible through the creation of two online, self-guided, and interactive continuing medical education (CME) modules for physicians, nurses, and other health care providers:

• Safe Prescribing for Pain.
• Managing Pain Patients Who Abuse Prescription Drugs.

 Significant aspects of the project included: development and launch of the modules, including videos modeling communication best practices; preliminary and ongoing module dissemination and promotion; and ongoing evaluation activities.  The modules were made available for CME/CE accredited completion at no charge through the Medscape Education website and handheld device application.  In addition, they were also offered through the NIDAMED website, for completion without CME accreditation. Finally, they have been integrated into the academic curricula of 3 US medical schools. This project was developed through a partnership between IQ Solutions, Inc. and Medscape Education, and was supported by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.  These modules are part of the NIDAMED portfolio of medical education resources for substance use disorders. 

Evaluation Methods and Results:  The evaluation plan has included two parts: a Medscape evaluation and the NIDAMED site evaluation. Medscape has provided data inputs to evaluate the success of the NIDA e-Tools program on its site, and IQ Solutions has conducted ongoing evaluation of the NIDAMED Web site.  Key evaluation aspects have included:

• Utilization.
• Customer satisfaction.
• Knowledge and competency.

In addition to measuring these basic program goals, IQ Solutions has also monitored marketing effectiveness and NIDAMED site traffic. Overall, the modules have enjoyed a remarkable success. To date, more than 40,000 clinicians have successfully completed the CME modules, far surpassing an initial target of 5,000 “completers.”  Also, engagement in the CME activities has been associated with increased traffic to the NIDAMED website.  Finally, pre- and post-test evaluations have demonstrated marked knowledge change in key learning objectives, and overall learner satisfaction has been positive. 

Conclusions:  On-line and handheld device based CME programs can offer a valuable tool in educating health care providers on the prevention of opioid abuse. When disseminated in a strategic manner, they can also serve as gateways to other assessment and treatment resources. 

Implications for research and/or practice:  The success of these on-line modules demonstrates a meaningful and convenient way to deliver cutting edge CME content.  Further programs should be evaluated for self-reported behavior change, or intention to change.