Addiction: When Patients Can't Just Quit- 3CH

Course overview

Target audience The target audience for this education program is nurses who want to increase their knowledge of medications used to treat opioid use disorder, alcohol use disorder and tobacco use disorder and how to facilitate treatment for patients dealing with substance use disorders. Course overview This course covers the epidemiology, causes and risk factors of addiction. It discusses the diagnosis of substance use disorders and offers a brief overview of medications used to treat withdrawal. The course gives detailed information on the medications used to treat opioid use disorder, alcohol use disorder and tobacco use disorder. Learning objectives Upon completion of this course, the learner should be able to: • Describe the economic and societal burdens created by addiction. • Identify patients presenting with opioid use disorder, alcohol use disorder or tobacco use disorder using the DSM-5 criteria for diagnosis. • List the various pharmacological therapies used during the withdrawal phase. • Discuss withdrawal management and detoxification. • Discuss the current FDA-approved therapies for opioid use disorder and help to determine the best treatment option based on recent guidelines and patient factors. • Compare and contrast the FDA-approved therapies for alcohol use disorder. • Assess a patient’s readiness to change and devise a plan for smoking cessation when needed. • Review the psychosocial interventions used in treating addiction.