Step Model for Managing Chronic, Non-Malignant Pain in Primary Care

Oftentimes, primary care providers lack the knowledge, confidence, and time to monitor chronic pain patients closely resulting in possible inappropriate prescribing of opioids. Purpose: The project aim was to improve primary care provider knowledge and confidence in managing chronic pain patients in the primary care setting using a step model that was developed based on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines as well as online education modules produced by the CDC. Methods: The project design was a quantitative pretest-posttest design. The primary outcome was to provide training on the CDC guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain as well as implementation of a step model for primary care providers increasing their knowledge and confidence in management of chronic, non-malignant (CNMP) pain patients. Outcomes and Results: There were seven questions on the pre- and posttest that were analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Of the seven questions, five were statistically significant. The project data showed that the education module and step model increased knowledge and confidence in managing CNMP and prescribing opioid medication for this population (n=7). It also demonstrated a lack of education related to management of CNMP and opioid medications highlighting the need for increased education on chronic pain management and opioid therapy for physicians in the sample population as evidenced by statistically significant improvement between the pretest and posttest scores