Opioids and Other Analgesics

Course Overview

This Ausmed Course explores evidence-based guidelines for pain management and includes information on acute, chronic and post-surgical pharmacological pain relief using a multidisciplinary approach.

Continue your learning with part one of the Pain Management series with Pain Management.

Topics

• Non-opioid analgesics
• Opioid analgesics
• Other therapies for pain management

Need

About 20% of Australians suffer chronic pain, and this will increase as the population ages. In up to 5% (or about one million people), the pain has a significant impact on function and quality of life. Australia’s multidisciplinary pain clinics cannot see this number of patients, therefore much of the load for managing people with chronic pain falls on general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists and nurses.

Optimal management involves both non-pharmacological and pharmacological approaches that focus on preventing disease and stopping progression, as opposed to just targeting palliation of disease. There have been many adverse events (including drug interactions) reported with many analgesics, as well as underuse and overuse of analgesia, resulting in changes to guidelines.

Purpose

The purpose of this Ausmed Course is to provide a review of pharmacological options and their uses for effective relief of acute or chronic pain.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate an understanding of the pharmacology of analgesics in order to facilitate safe and effective pain relief for patients.
• Apply current knowledge of non-opioid analgesics for the safe administration of these medicines.
• Use knowledge about complementary therapies for pain management to guide patients in their pain management plan.

Target Audience

This Ausmed Course is relevant to registered nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, especially those who may administer or prescribe opioids and analgesics as part of the management of acute, chronic and post-surgical pain.

Disclosure

No conflict of interest exists for anyone in the position to control content for this activity. Wherever possible, generic or non-proprietary names of medications or products have been used.

Educator

Jenny Gowan View profile

Dr Jenny Gowan is a practicing pharmacist, adjunct senior lecturer at Monash University and clinical associate at RMIT University. She has published over 500 educational articles, has copious experience in presentations and lectures and runs a consulting pharmacy company. Jenny was awarded the 2013 PSA Australian Pharmacist of the Year award and the 2016 AACP-MIMs Consultant Pharmacist of the Year Award.