Abstract
Purpose: The U.S. is struggling with dual crises of chronic pain and opioid overdoses. To improve statewide pain and addiction care, the Arizona Department of Health Services and 18 health education programs collaboratively created the evidence-based, comprehensive Arizona Pain and Addiction Curriculum which includes a Toolbox for Operationalization with adult learning theory applications and an annual program survey to assess curriculum implementation. The purpose of this study is to analyze the first year's survey data to better understand the implementation of a novel curriculum across all programs in the state.Materials and Methods: Program surveys were sent 6 months after curriculum publication to all 18 health education programs in Arizona to assess the 6 Ds of curriculum implementation: Degree of implementation, Difficulty of implementation, Delivery methods, Faculty Development, Didactic dissonance and Discussion Opportunities.Results: Responses from all program types (14/18 programs) indicated that there was widespread implementation of the curriculum, with 71% reporting that all ten Core Components had been included in the past academic year. The majority of programs did not find the Components difficult to implement and had implemented them through lectures. Seventy-seven percent of programs did not have a process to ensure clinical rotation supervisors are teaching content consistent with the curriculum, 77% reported not addressing student's didactic dissonance, and 77% of programs did not report asking students about their interactions with industry representatives.Conclusion: In < 1 year after creation of the Arizona Pain and Addiction Curriculum, all program types reported wide implementation with little difficulty. This may represent a first step toward the transformation of pain and addiction education, and occurred statewide, across program types. Further focus on didactic dissonance, problem solving and faculty development is indicated, along with systematic education on pharmaceutical and industry influence on learners. Other programs may benefit from adopting this curriculum and may not experience significant challenges in doing so.
Highlights
The United States is currently experiencing dual public health crises of chronic pain [1] and opioid-related overdoses [2]
Curriculum management and evaluation are considered in most accreditation standards, no such existing program evaluation was identified for a curriculum on pain and addiction, nor cross-program evaluations of pain and addiction curricula implementation
10/14 (71%) of programs responded that all ten Core Components of the Arizona Pain and Addiction Curriculum were included in their curriculum in the past academic year
Summary
The United States is currently experiencing dual public health crises of chronic pain [1] and opioid-related overdoses [2]. In light of the increasing opioid-related overdoses in Arizona, the governor of Arizona declared a statewide public health emergency on June 5, 2017 [3] In response to this emergency, one of the recommendations from the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) was to create a statewide, modern, evidence-based curriculum on pain and addiction for all prescriber types [4]. The Arizona Pain and Addiction Curriculum vision is ambitious, as it seeks to redefine pain and addiction as complex, public health issues, requiring interprofessional care and involvement of systems It focuses on intangible, upstream goals, such as reducing stigma, linking pain and addiction, demedicalizing chronic pain, increasing interdisciplinary care, and enhancing self and system’s introspection. Downstream goals such as reducing opioid prescriptions or increasing the number of DATA-waivered providers able to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder are likely to follow from the cultural shift driven by the intangible goals [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
