Pharmacy Professionals' Role in Preventing Opioid Abuse

Contact Hours: 3.0
ACPE UAN: 0384-9999-22-206-H08-T

The National Pharmacy Technician Association (NPTA) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education.

This CPE activity has been designated as a knowledge-based program.

Disclosures: The CE faculty, reviewers and planning committee members have all reported no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program. This program received no commercial support and has been peer-reviewed to ensure non-commercialization. 

Target Audience: Pharmacy Technicians

Goals & Objectives:

• Define epidemiology and the genesis of the opioid crisis.
• Discuss trends in opioid prescribing by specialties.
• List the types of opioids and their pharmacokinetics.
• Describe the effect of opioid pain medications on body & brain.
• Describe definitions of terms related to opioid abuse and misuse.
• Discuss commonly prescribed opioid and their side effects.
• Discuss opioid tolerance and withdrawals symptoms.
• Discuss pharmacologic agents used to treat opioid disorder (opioid antagonists.)
• Describe the risks of abuse and addiction associated with opioid medication.
• List the sources of misused prescription opioids.
• Discuss risk assessment tools for substance abuse.
• Review Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and impact of a mandatory PDMP on prescription opioid analgesics.
• Discuss pharmacist's role in preventing opioid abuse through a systematic approach to recognizing and resolving red flags. 

Release Date:  8/15/2022

Expiration Date: 8/15/2025