Effectiveness of half-day interactive continuing medical education workshop in improving oncologists’ knowledge in prescribing opioids

Abstract

Background: Patients with cancer commonly experience persistent pain, and opioids have remained the mainstay of pain treatment because of their rapid effectiveness in treating moderate to severe pain. As medicine progresses, we need to establish continuous medical education sessions to educate, update, and establish competency in opioid prescribing in cancer patients. Aim: The objective of this study was to explore whether continuing medical education interventions improve oncologists’ knowledge about pain management when prescribing opioids. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional prospective pre- post-test study. Continuing medical education workshops lasting three identical half-days was offered in 2019. Training sessions were held at the Princess Noorah Oncology Education Center. A total of 40 participants were recruited from a single discipline (oncology) rather than from multiple disciplines for the workshops. The continuing medical education program included six lectures and case presentations. An assessment of 16 multiple-choice questions (case scenario format) with four options was administered to the participants before the training workshop. Results: The mean scores of the participants’ knowledge increased from 9.48 (pre-test) to 11.93 (post-test). This improvement was statistically significant (p < 0.001). A novel finding of this study is that continuing medical education lasting a half-day is as effective as a one-day workshop and even superior to traditional continuing medical education lasting two days. Conclusions: A half-day continuing medical education program significantly improved physicians’ knowledge of prescribing opioids in cancer patients. This study suggests that a well-designed continuing medical education program is essential for its success.