Not Quite Child's Play: Using Beanbags to Teach Opioid Dosing and Rotation

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pediatric Pain Management
• Pharmacology Education

Background:

• Medical curricula often lack comprehensive pain management training, particularly for pediatric care.
• Effective opioid stewardship requires understanding dosing, potencies, and rotation strategies.
• Current educational methods may not adequately prepare clinicians for complex pain scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the deficit in pediatric pain management education.
• To introduce a novel, tactile learning tool for opioid education.
• To enhance understanding of opioid dosing, potencies, and rotation.

Main Methods:

• Development of beanbags with areas proportional to common opioid potencies.
• Implementation of small-group, case-based sessions utilizing the beanbag model.
• Introduction to opioid dosing, potency comparisons, and rotation principles.

Main Results:

• The hands-on approach facilitates understanding of opioid characteristics.
• Case-based exercises allow practical application of learned concepts.
• The method provides a tangible way to visualize opioid potencies.

Conclusions:

• This innovative, hands-on method can improve opioid education for medical trainees.
• Further analysis will assess the educational impact via pre- and post-intervention surveys.
• This approach offers a promising strategy to enhance pediatric pain management training.