Monday, March 4, 2013

Patient Education: Opioid Basics

PRIUM has put together a simple, one-page (front and back), graphically intensive, easy-to-understand education piece aimed at patients on opioid therapy for chronic pain.  We're offering this resource absolutely free of charge to anyone who wishes to use it: injured workers, adjusters, nurses, physicians, attorneys, etc.  While the PRIUM logo is shown on the page, we'd be happy to share an alternative version that doesn't contain our logo - just ask and we'll send it your way. 

You can find our patient education brochure here.

We spend a lot of our time here at PRIUM on the concept of education.  We conduct continuing education for claims professionals and clinicians.  We deliver informal education within the context of every peer-to-peer intervention we perform.  One of the purposes of this very blog is general industry education.  But we hadn't yet developed anything to engage the injured worker.  And that wasn't for lack of trying.  We had grand ideas about web sites, interactive tools, self-assessment techniques, etc. 

Then Dr. Pamella Thomas, our Medical Director, shared a glaring and critical insight about the need to create patient education that is simple.  Her rule: if the patient can't get through it while sitting on the toilet, it's probably not going to help.

Special thanks to Dr. Thomas for developing the content and to Marketing Works for turning the content into an engaging infographic. 

If this leads to even a single patient asking a single question that leads to better treatment of chronic pain, the effort will have been worth it.

Michael
On Twitter @PRIUM1

1 comment:

  1. Bravo to your organization for taking a bold step! As a provider I use several opioid handouts with my patients, and they really enjoy being able to evaluate the risks and benefits of treatment, and being involved in their care. The infographic you developed is smart. There are some other great resources via webility.md and also pain.edu
    Great job!

    ReplyDelete