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The 2017 Canadian Guidelines for Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain emphasized the importance of safely minimizing the dose of opioids that patients are being prescribed. The guidelines made it important for me as a primary care provider to reassess my population of patients on opioids and ensure that I was doing my best to implement the new recommendations accordingly. This presented a formidable challenge and led to the realization that it would be very useful to have an EMR tool to support this process.

In response, the East Wellington Family Health Team (FHT), the Guelph FHT, the eHealth Centre of Excellence (eCE), and TELUS Health partnered to create an Opioid EMR Toolbar (Figure 1) using content informed by the Guidelines and work done by the Centre for Effective Practice (CEP).

Figure 1. Opioid EMR Toolbar

The toolbar provided a practical and effective way to implement the new guidelines into my practice through the following capabilities:

The figure bellow illustrates the steps I took in using the toolbar to implement the new guidelines.

Figure 2. Steps used to systematically manage my population of patients on opioids.

During this process, I also found it very helpful to participate in Academic Detailing sessions provided by the CEP. These are one on one sessions in which an expert from the CEP met me at my office and reviewed key topics including:

• Non-pharmacological and non-opioid options for the management of patients living with chronic non-cancer pain
• Managing opioid therapy for patients living with chronic non-cancer pain
• Managing care for patients living with opioid use disorder

Results

The toolbar gave me the information that I needed, when I needed it, provided individualized patient decision support, and saved me a lot of time on documentation. I was able to spend more time with my patients. They felt engaged and well informed.

Within nine months of the adoption of the toolbar I was able to safely taper the dose of opioids for a significant number of my patients and there was a statistically significant reduction in the overall MEQs I prescribed over this time period (p<0.05).

I really hope that others will find similar success in helping their patients manage their pain safely and effectively. The Guidelines have paved the way for us, and the Opioid Toolbar has proven to be an effective vehicle to help get us there.

Resources available

• The Opioid Toolbar is now available to all users of Telus Practice Solutions EMR. The simplified version of the toolbar used for this quality improvement initiative is available through the eHealthCentre of Excellence for PS EMR (Oscar under development). eHealth coaching sessions are also available through the eCE (with Mainpro+ credits) for primary care providers across the Waterloo-Wellington Local Health Integration Network.
• The Academic Detailing sessions are free-of-charge and free of commercial interest. Physicians can earn Mainpro+ credits for each AD session. More information and the process of signing up for a session is available on the Centre of Effective Practice website.

References:

Busse, J.W. (2017). The 2017 Canadian guideline for opioids for chronic non-cancer pain. Hamilton, ON: McMaster University.

Need help supporting your patients in managing their pain? Visit the Ontario Pain Management Resources for a coordinated program of tools from partner organizations across the province.

This story is part of a PainQI series on Quorum.