Schedule (subject to change)
7:00a - 7:30a - Registration and Exhibits
Coffee will be served.
7:30a - 8:30a - Role of All Practice Providers Involved in Pain Management in the Acute-Care Setting
UAN 0530-0000-18-331-L01-P
AANP Rx Hours 0.1
Course Description
Millions of patients each year suffer from acute pain as a result of trauma, illness, or surgery. Pain is the most common reason for admission to the emergency department (ED), comprising more than 40% of the over 100 million ED visits annually. The prevalence of intense acute pain is similarly high among patients undergoing surgery: in the United States, over 73 million surgical procedures are performed annually, and most patients report experiencing a high degree of pain postoperatively. Studies indicate that treatment of acute pain remains suboptimal due to attitudes and educational barriers on the part of clinicians and patients, as well as the intrinsic limitations of available therapies. Inadequate management of acute pain negatively impacts numerous aspects of patient health and may increase the risk of developing chronic pain. This presentation will review the differences between acute and chronic or persistent pain, while providing attendees with a multimodal treatment approach for the acute care setting. Emphasis will be placed on the role of the advanced practice provider.
Theresa Mallick-Searle, MS, NP-BC, ANP-BC
8:30a - 9:30a - Product, Disease Awareness, Medical Information Program*
Breakfast will be served.
Sponsored by SCILEX, Bill McCarberg, MD
9:30a - 9:40a - Break & Exhibits
9:40a - 10:40a - A Comedy of Errors: Methadone and Buprenorphine
UAN 0530-0000-18-032-L01-P
AANP Rx Hours 1.0
Course Description
The most contentious, poorly understood analgesics today are methadone and buprenorphine. This fast paced workshop will equip practitioners with immediately implementable practical tips regarding when and how to use these analgesics, including dosage formulations, routes of delivery, appropriate use in therapy, drug interactions, dosage titration (both up and down), opioid conversion calculations, and more. All discussions will be aimed at enhancing clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes on the individual patient and health system level.
Douglas L. Gourlay, MD, MSc, FRCPC, FASAM
10:40a - 11:40a - Get Your Specimens in Order: The Importance of Individualized Test Orders and Timely Test Utilization
UAN 0530-0000-18-039-L01-P
AANP Rx Hours 0.0
Course Description
The government has ramped up its efforts in 2018 to connect claims of inappropriate opioid prescribing to financial gain, including gain from urine drug testing. While most physicians do not have a financial interest in a clinical laboratory, the government's decision to highlight an opioid prescriber's failure to timely utilize drug test results is significant, and suggests the government is looking at other factors tied to medical decision making. Thus, prescribers should pay attention to licensing board, payer, and professional society guidance on ordering drug tests and how to use drug test results when treatment involves opioid prescribing. Attendees will learn how to identify the core elements of medical necessity and document an individualized testing plan for each patient. This course will cover critical areas of medical record documentation, including the decision to drug test, when and how often; determining which drugs to test and why; and how to coordinate timely review and use of drug test results in connection with the patient's plan of care. Attendees will gain additional insight into these issues through position papers, published late 2017 and early 2018, by the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. The overall goal of the course is to assist prescribers in their quest to provide quality pain care to their patients and to document their rationale for drug testing and their treatment decisions.
Jennifer Bolen, JD
11:40a - 12:00p - Faculty Q&A
12:00p - 12:10p - Break & Exhibits
12:10p - 1:10p - Product, Disease Awareness, Medical Information Program*
Lunch will be served.
Sponsored by Teva, Abraham J. Nagy, MD
1:10p - 2:00p - Embrace Changes and Mitigate Legal Risks Associated with Opioid Prescribing and the Issue of Overdose: An Updated Blueprint for the Frontline Pain Practitioner and Medical Directors
UAN 0530-0000-18-045-L01-P
AANP Rx Hours 0.0
Course Description
Overdose--a small word that packs a major punch, and a big reason for many recent legal regulatory changes in controlled substance prescribing and pain management. Too many physicians and allied healthcare practitioners are caught unawares by the legal issues surrounding overdose events, fatal and nonfatal. Often, prescribers are the last to learn about an overdose event and, worse yet, fail to take action once notified. Through a series of case examples, attendees will learn how to develop and implement overdose event policies and protocols. Attendees will receive copies of sample policies and protocols and learn how to tailor them to their respective practices and state licensing board framework. Professional licensing board and criminal cases involving overdose events do not usually end well for the prescriber, but there is much the prescriber can do proactively to signal his/her intent to get things right. While prescribers cannot control what their patients do once they leave the medical office, they are responsible for establishing a safe framework for opioid prescribing, including a proper response when something goes wrong.
Jennifer Bolen, JD
2:00p - 2:10p - Break & Exhibits
2:10p - 3:00p
Product, Disease Awareness, Medical Information Program*
Refreshments will be served.
Sponsored by ADAPT® PharmaBill McCarberg, MD
3:00p - 3:50p - Cannabis vs Cannabinoids: The Politics of Medical Marijuana
UAN 0530-0000-18-034-L01-P
AANP Rx Hours 0.0
Course Description
The subject of the medical use of cannabinoids has become an extremely hot topic. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency to equate medical cannabinoids with another very contentious topic: medical marijuana. In this presentation, the distinction between medical cannabinoids and medical cannabis will be explored. Specifically, the challenges facing prescribers who are being asked to prescribe medical marijuana will be examined.
Douglas L. Gourlay, MD, MSc, FRCPC, FASAM
3:50p - 4:40p - Multidisciplinary Pain Management: Complex Cases
UAN 0530-0000-18-329-L01-P
AANP Rx Hours 0.3
Course Description
There are many reasons why healthcare providers choose not to manage pain, or unknowingly undertreat pain, including fear of addiction or overdose, litigation, and difficult personality types. Mostly practitioners undertreat because of a lack of knowledge, understanding, and confidence to manage such an elusive diagnosis. Have you ever asked yourself Which medication and why? Do I need an opioid agreement to prescribe hydrocodone? What about addiction? Which complementary treatment approaches are available to my patient and which ones does the evidence support? Is there anything else that I can try other than an opioid? What about behavioral management? How can my mental health colleagues help with pain management, and how do I suggest this to my patient? Improving the clinician's knowledge and skills will help demystify and reduce the fear associated with managing such a subjective and otherwise challenging diagnosis. This timely lecture will focus on the importance of managing pain in the biopsychosocial model from a multidisciplinary perspective. In this case based learning presentation, we will be reviewing complex case studies on common, otherwise challenging-to-manage pain syndromes including chronic low back pain, postherpetic neuralgia, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Focus will be placed on educating the audience about pain physiology, pharmacology, interventional management, and complementary treatment modalities. Cases will be evaluated from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Theresa Mallick-Searle, MS, NP-BC, ANP-BC
*Not certified for credit.
