Improving Communication About Pain and Opioids
Pain, Chronic, Communication Research, Opioid Use
About this trial
This is an interventional health services research trial for Pain, Chronic focused on measuring primary care, chronic pain, patient-physician communication, opioid analgesics, standardized patients
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
Internal Medicine or Family Medicine residents at UC Davis:
- completed ≥1 year of training
- see primary care patients in the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) building. Clinicians will be recruited through clinic huddles, emails, and presentations at meetings.
UC Davis Patients:
- 18-80 years old
- taking opioids (≥1 opioid dose per day) prescribed by their primary care physician for >90 days to treat chronic musculoskeletal pain
- have an appointment scheduled with a participating clinician at which they report they are likely to discuss pain management
Exclusion Criteria:
- active cancer
- hospice
- do not speak English
- prisoners
- pregnant women
- unable to consent
Sites / Locations
- University of California Davis Family Medicine Clinic
- University of California Davis Internal Medicine Clinic
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Active Comparator
Communication skills training
Control
Intervention clinicians will receive 2 standardized patient visits. The first visit will consist of an 8 minute video on the development of 5 key communication skills, a 10-12 minute role-play session to practice using these skills, and 8-10 minutes of constructive feedback. The 2nd visit will include only the role-play and feedback components. Clinicians will also get a printed pocket card and pamphlet explaining the targeted communication skills in more detail.
Control clinicians will receive a written summary of the 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guidelines, which include recommendations for best practices for use of opioids to treat chronic non-cancer pain. CDC guidelines will serve as an attention control.