Balancing patient pain relief needs and the potential for opioid abuse and misuse continue to be top of mind for the pharmacy profession. Comprehensive strategies are key to making progress. The ASHP Midyear Meeting schedule offers sessions focused on unique ways to address various aspects of opioid management.

Following is a listing of selected sessions taking place during the ASHP Midyear 2023 Clinical Meeting & Exhibition that cover current opioid topics:

The Pain Debates: Honoring the Bow Tie
Sunday, December 3, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Describe the benefits and possible consequences of approving OTC naloxone.
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of using MME as an outcome and guideline tool.
• Discuss the benefits and risks of opioid tapering in a given patient or population.

Opioid Guidelines, Regulations, Legislation, Oh My! Unintended Consequences of Good Intentions
Monday, December 4, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Describe the impact of the 2016 CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain on chronic pain management practice.
• Discuss regulations and legislation on opioid prescribing in relation to existing evidence-based medicine.
• Differentiate the 2022 and 2016 CDC guidelines for opioid prescribing and the potential impact the 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain will have on chronic pain management practice.
• Evaluate pain management patient case scenarios in which clinical judgment and the patient-provider relationship may supersede broad guideline recommendations.
• Summarize the potential benefits and harms of implementing opioid-prescribing guideline recommendations via regulations and legislation.

A Review of Substances of Abuse
Monday, December 4, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Identify at least two dozen common illicit substances, including how each exhibits intended and unintended effects.
• Identify the similarities between multiple controlled substance mechanisms of action and various substances of abuse.
• Discuss safety information that would be needed by people deciding to utilize illicit substances in terms of overdose prevention and side effect mitigation.

It’s a Small World After All: Diversion Prevention Software Challenges
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Summarize the scope of the problem of drug diversion and the need for artificial intelligence software.
• Discuss limitations with available diversion prevention software.
• Describe strategies to maximize individual analytics tools.
• Discuss critical stakeholder engagement and involvement when addressing drug diversion.

Wear a Seatbelt, Use Condoms, and Carry Naloxone: Harm Reduction Strategies in the Context of the Opioid Crisis
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Define harm reduction as it relates to drug use.
• Describe the public health impact of opioid use disorder in the context of an unregulated illicit drug supply in the United States.
• Identify strategies that can improve the health of individuals who use drugs and their community.
• Evaluate the potential benefits and harms of implementing various harm reductions.

To Equitable Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Beyond: DEA Registered Pharmacists to the Rescue
Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Describe the current state of opioid use disorder (OUD) care and the rationale for pharmacist-led substance use disorder (SUD) care.
• Discuss legislative updates that impact clinical pharmacy practice in SUD care.
• Describe advocacy strategies for additional legislative changes that advance pharmacist practice in SUD care.
• Develop a pharmacy collaborative practice model in OUD care delivery.

No Pain, No Gain: Updates in Opioid Prescribing and Non-Opioid Pain Management
Wednesday, December 6, 2023

While pharmacists are generally comfortable with some simpler tasks such as converting to morphine equivalents and between opioid therapies, there continues to be a general lack of appreciation for the risks with short courses of opioid therapy in putting patients at risk for long-term use. This session will focus on determining whether to initiate opioids for pain, selecting opioids and determining opioid dosages, deciding the duration of initial opioid prescription, and conducting follow-up, and assessing the risk and addressing potential harms of opioid use. Updated guidance on pain management with opioids is highlighted, and strategies to optimize pain management for patients currently on medication-assisted treatment and those with a history of substance abuse are explored.

Learning Objectives:
• Develop treatment plans based on patient-specific factors to optimize safe and effective pain management.
• Counsel patients on realistic pain outcomes, such as reduced pain and improved function.
• Modify care plans for patients with opioid use disorder, a history of overdose, or patients that experience opioid-related adverse events.
• Identify non-opiate pharmacologic interventions for patients on medication-assisted treatment.

The Scoop on Bupe: Best Practices and Barriers Bridging Care
Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Describe innovative roles for ambulatory and community pharmacists managing patients treated with buprenorphine/naloxone for opioid use disorder.
• Summarize buprenorphine induction strategies for use in the inpatient and emergency department settings.
• Identify barriers to accessing buprenorphine/naloxone.
• Create strategies to optimize access to buprenorphine/naloxone.

Opioid Metrics: Monitor Well and Improve Safety in Your Health System
Thursday, December 7, 2023

Learning Objectives:
• Compare the rationale and limitations of measuring and monitoring metrics as a component of opioid safety.
• Identify opportunities for pharmacists to utilize opioid-based metrics that improve safety outcomes as a component of opioid stewardship.
• Develop an implementation strategy for opioid metric monitoring that targets appropriate opioid use and optimizes patient safety in a health-system setting.