The Role of Continuing Medical Education in Increasing Enrollment in Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs.

The Role of Continuing Medical Education in Increasing Enrollment in Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs. Clin Ther. 2017 Aug 30;: Authors: Finnell JT, Twillman RK, Breslan SA, Schultz J, Miller L Abstract PURPOSE: Opioid diversion, misuse, and abuse are rapidly growing problems in the United States; >60% of all drug overdose deaths involve an opioid. At least 49 states now have fully operational prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) to support legitimate medical use of controlled substances; however, there is considerable underutilization of such programs. METHODS: To increase awareness of PDMPs and their use, a continuing medical education program including 2 webcasts and a series of newsletters was offered to health care providers. FINDINGS: Four hundred and sixty-five clinicians participated in 1 of 2 webcasts. Of those, 207 clinicians responded to a pre-survey and 64 responded to a post-survey. Slightly more than half of clinicians were registered for their state's PDMP program before the educational intervention, and although significantly more clinicians reported increased likelihood to access their state PDMP after participation, the number that actually registered only trended toward a statistically significant increase to 74% after the education (P = 0.06). Immediate post-activity evaluation also indicated that the education significantly improved clinician knowledge of the characteristics of ad...
Source: Clinical Therapeutics - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Clin Ther Source Type: research