The ALTO or Alternative to Opiates initiative is a an emergency department (ED) based program intended to utilize non-opioid approaches as a first-line therapy for certain pain conditions commonly treated in the ED. These slides briefly describe the ALTO protocols and the results of a pilot study of the program.
The COVID-19 public health emergency is particularly challenging for people in treatment for substance use disorder, people in recovery, and people who use drugs. This collection features educational resources that can be adapted for local settings, specific guidance on harm reduction, recovery housing and providing peer support services during the pandemic, and links to websites that provide high-quality information, data, and/or examples for local communities to adopt.
Health care providers often request guidance on how to have conversations with patients about opioids, pain treatment, addiction and other topics that may be challenging. In this collection, we have gathered materials that provide support to providers as they have these difficult conversations.
This web-based opioid prevention toolkit from Oregon Health Authority’s Heal Safely campaign is intended to be used by community health workers and public health officials to help communities find safe non-opioid options for healing safely and addressing pain.
The National Academies of Medicine’s COVID-19 response page includes resources for supporting individuals with substance use disorder and those who experience pain. It includes links to NAM’s publications and webinars as well as links to other organizations producing materials to address the needs of these individuals.
This 6 minute video titled “Intersection of Pain and Addiction” from a clinician at Boston Medical Center’s Grayken Center for Addiction describes how addiction often develops after treatment for pain, how individuals with substance use disorder experience pain differently, and how important it is to treat pain in individuals with current SUD or a history of SUD.
The 2017 Nebraska Pain Management Guidance document was developed by an expert advisory task force consisting of actively practicing clinicians and prescribers, public health officers and senior state officials. The guidance is notable for addressing a broad range of topics including
This 2019 update from the Oregon Drug Use Research & Management board provides recommendations for the use of opioids in treating non-cancer pain. The document summarizes guidelines on opioid prescribing produced by the Veterans Administration, the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, and the Oregon Health Authority.
This 4 minute video from Minnesota’s Flip the Script campaign features interviews with a physician and patient about how the decision to change the patient’s opioid prescription improved the patient’s quality of life and the provider’s relationship to his patients and his practice.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services convened a group of stakeholders to address opioid prescribing in the state through the Opioid Prescribing Improvement Project. The Opioid Prescribing Workgroup produced these 2018 guidelines on opioid prescribing for use by providers