The online interactive MedTrainer Opioid Crisis and Solutions series is complete with four core topics; Prescription Drug Abuse, Responsible Opioid Prescribing, Drug-Seeking Behavior, and Recognizing Staff with Substance Abuse Disorders. The capstone of this series, which pulls the regulations, data, resources, and challenges, is entitled The Opioid Crisis – Interventions and Innovations. The series includes an easy-to-find resource and regulations guide for national and state requirements.
The Opioid Crisis and
Solution Series
Course Overview

Needs Assessment
There are many concerns that healthcare organizations, providers, and clinicians, have in common with the ongoing national focus on opioid abuse and addiction. There is a tremendous amount of information and recommendations for how to best manage organizational and individual responsibilities to reduce the sources of opioid abuse and addiction, but it is often difficult for the busy clinician and provider to get a national view and a local perspective.
The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug overdose crisis in U.S. history. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 72,000 people died of overdoses and that two-thirds of those deaths were linked to opioids. In October of 2017, a national opioid crisis was declared and Patrice A. Harris, MD, chair of the American Medical Association Opioid Task Force, immediately responded by stating that “Ending the epidemic will require physicians, insurers, drug manufacturers, and the government to follow through with resources, evidence-based treatment plans and smart public policies at the national and state levels.
A major contributing factor to the opioid crisis was the amount of opioid prescribing that has been steadily increasing over the past decade, as well as the steady increase in patients seeking relief from acute and chronic pain. This series is designed to provide informational courses and resources to consolidate the best-practices for addressing the opioid crisis in the healthcare environment.
Solution Series
Overall goal
The goal of this activity is to:
Course Modules
- Prescription Drug AbuseThis course will assist clinicians and providers identify the patient populations that are the greatest risk, the various types of commonly-abused prescription medications, including opioids, and explain specific interventional strategies for preventing prescription drug abuse.
- Responsible Opioid PrescribingThis course reviews the current prescribing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including important feedback from key stakeholders. With the Opioid crisis gaining national attention and with the main focus on those who write prescriptions for opioid analgesics, it is important for prescribers to know the current state requirements, as well as new alternatives on how to help patients deal with chronic pain.
- Drug-Seeking BehaviorThis course provides clinicians and providers with a detailed understanding of how to identify patterns of drug-seeking behavior.
- Recognizing Staff with Substance Abuse DisordersThis course reviews the signs of addiction that employees, including providers, may display in the workplace, as well as the available state and federal resources.
- Opioid Crisis Interventions and InnovationsIs the capstone of the series and is a compilation of the many steps taken towards reaching a solution being deployed by public and private organizations. Not all stakeholders agree on how funding and resources should be allocated, but all stakeholders publically agree that the problem is severe and a solution requires collaboration.
By participating in this series,
participants will:
Course Requirements
Additional Course Information