Pain Management and Opioid Therapy: Persistent Knowledge Gaps Among Primary Care Providers.

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Medical Education
• Public Health

Background:

• The US faces an opioid epidemic, necessitating evidence-based opioid prescribing by clinicians.
• Continuing education on opioid prescribing is now mandatory for US healthcare providers.
• The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed an educational blueprint for opioid prescribing, updated in 2018.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the baseline knowledge and confidence of healthcare professionals regarding opioid prescribing for pain management.
• To evaluate understanding before and during continuing education programs based on FDA blueprints.

Main Methods:

• A pretest with 27 knowledge-based and 1 confidence question was administered to clinicians.
• Participants attended continuing education programs aligned with 2016 and 2018 FDA Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) blueprints.
• Data collected from 5571 clinicians, including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and pharmacists.

Main Results:

• Profound and persistent knowledge gaps were identified across various domains, including pain mechanisms and opioid therapy.
• Clinicians reported limited confidence in patient engagement and chronic pain treatment planning.
• These deficits were observed in participants of both 2016 and 2018 FDA REMS-based programs.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights an ongoing need for comprehensive clinician education on evidence-based opioid prescribing.
• Findings underscore the importance of FDA REMS educational blueprints.
• Addressing these knowledge gaps is critical, especially with rising overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.