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ASPI E-Newsletter

The ASPI E-Newsletter is an e-mail update on pain related issues and events and the activities of the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives. To receive the ASPI E-Newsletter, please email Ronna Popkin at rapopkin@wisc.edu
Click here for past E-Newsletters.

March 2009 E-Newsletter
gotoCME Accredited Version of Responsible Opioid Prescribing Available in April
gotoPain Resource Nurse (PRN) Program Curriculum & Planning Guide
gotoASPI 20th Annual Meeting: Save the Date! October 23 - 25, 2009
gotoState Pain Initiatives in Action: Massachusetts Pain Initiative
gotoNew Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain

CME Accredited Version of Responsible Opioid Prescribing Available in April

A CME accredited version of Responsible Opioid Prescribing: A Physician’s Guide will be available in April.  The activity, which is jointly sponsored by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives (ASPI), and the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), will offer participants up to 7.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for reading the book and successfully completing an online post-test on the material.  Responsible Opioid Prescribing offers physicians effective strategies for reducing the risks of opioid addiction, abuse, and diversion. Written by pain medicine specialist Scott M. Fishman, M.D., chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at the University of California, Davis, the book translates FSMB’s consensus model policy on pain management into practical, office-based pain management guidelines. 

For more information on the CME activity, please email Ronna Popkin.   
For more information on the book, please email Drew Carlson.

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Pain Resource Nurse (PRN) Program Curriculum & Planning Guide

The PRN Curriculum and Planning Guide—a tool-kit designed to assist clinicians/educators in hospital settings in coordinating and implementing a Pain Resource Nurse (PRN) Program—is now available for purchase via the ASPI Resource Center.  The Guide includes content on the prevalence and impact of pain, basic pain physiology, assessment of pain, pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, methods of drug delivery, acute and chronic pain, cancer pain, management of pain in patients with substance abuse, and the PRN role.  The Guide also provides an overview of the PRN Program concept; practical tips on how to coordinate, budget, and evaluate a PRN training course; and information on how to support and engage the PRNs who are trained.  All of the key planning and educational materials are available as electronic files on the included CD ROM and flash drive. If you would like more information on the Guide, or are interested in applying for a possible future PRN Training Course, please email Marty Skemp Brown.

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ASPI 20th Annual Meeting: Save the Date! October 23 - 25, 2009

Please save the date for the 20th Annual Meeting of the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, “Bridging the Gaps in Pain Care,” a jointly sponsored continuing medical education activity being held October 23-25, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in San Francisco, California.  We hope many of you will join us in California!  For more information about the meeting, please visit the ASPI website or email Ronna Popkin.

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State Pain Initiatives in Action: Massachusetts Pain Initiative

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Massachusetts Pain Initiative (MassPI), the Massachusetts Boards of Registration in Nursing, Physician Assistants, and Dentistry all recently issued Rulings on the Management of Pain.  The nursing, physician assistant, and dentistry rulings, which affect thousands of healthcare professional licensees across the state, were created to ensure patient access to appropriate, effective pain assessment and management.  The Massachusetts Division of Health Professions Licensure took the milestone step of adopting all three Board policies in a four week period in to focus attention on the hidden epidemic of pain which adversely affects thousands of Massachusetts citizens and has serious physiological, psychological, social and economic consequences.

MassPI has worked collaboratively with the Division of Health Professions Licensure to bring these policies to fruition and has developed a roll out plan in concert with the Boards.  The plan includes communication of the Rulings to licensees through professional association newsletters, web sites, and publications and through continuing education training programs for healthcare professionals that are being taught across the state by MassPI volunteers. MassPI is also sponsoring a spring meeting on April 3, 2009 entitled “Current Trends in Pain Management,” at which the new rulings will be presented.  Continuing education credits will be offered for nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and physician assistants who attend the meeting.  For more information about the rulings, the April 3rd meeting, and the work of MassPI, please visit the MassPI website.

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New Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain

A panel of pain management experts from both the American Pain Society (APS) and the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) recently published the first comprehensive clinical practice guideline for the use of opioid therapy in treating chronic non-cancer pain.  The guideline, which is the result of a two-year collaboration between APS, AAPM, and the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center at Oregon Health and Science University, appeared in the February 2009 issue of The Journal of Pain.Both a news release/short summary of the guideline and the full text of the article are available online. 

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The Alliance of State Pain Initiatives and the University of Wisconsin-Madison do not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process described in the E-Newsletter, and the reference to any of these resources does not imply endorsement.

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