Utilizing a Faculty Development Program to Promote Safer Opioid Prescribing for Chronic Pain in Internal Medicine...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Practice
• Opioid Prescribing

Background:

• Internal Medicine faculty require enhanced skills in safe opioid prescribing.
• Effective resident teaching on opioid management is crucial for patient safety.
• Current faculty development programs may not adequately address clinical and teaching competencies in opioid stewardship.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a skills-based faculty development program (FDP).
• To enhance Internal Medicine faculty's clinical skills in safe opioid prescribing.
• To improve faculty's ability to teach residents about safe opioid prescribing practices.

Main Methods:

• A faculty development program (FDP) incorporating a didactic session and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).
• Focus on assessing opioid misuse risk, treatment outcomes, and aberrant behaviors.
• Pre- and post-program evaluation of faculty knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and self-reported resident teaching.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements observed in faculty knowledge (68% to 79%) and confidence (43.5% to 82.6% clinical; 45.8% to 83.3% teaching).
• Enhanced alignment of attitudes towards safer opioid prescribing post-FDP.
• Non-significant increases in self-reported resident teaching of safe opioid prescribing.

Conclusions:

• A skills-based FDP with didactic and OSCE components effectively improves faculty knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in safe opioid prescribing.
• Further training may be needed to enhance faculty's skills in teaching safe opioid prescribing to residents.
• This program serves as a model for improving opioid stewardship education within Internal Medicine.