About

Eight modules, 65 topics about opioids

The Opioid Use and Opioid Use Disorder E-Resource modules were primarily designed for use by students and faculty in social work, pharmacy, and registered nursing programs. The modules are mapped to learning outcomes and indicators found in the Interprofessional Education Guidelines on Opioid Use and Opioid Use Disorder, making them ideal for faculty to review prior to curriculum or course development.

Social work, pharmacy, and nursing faculty may opt to use these resources as part of a syllabus, as required reading or as a classroom activity. The modules are also designed for self-directed learning for faculty, students, or other health professionals.

No background knowledge in opioid use and opioid use disorder is required before taking the modules. The modules were created to provide introductory knowledge on related topics, including teaching tools and learning resources, as well as links to external resources and organizations for users looking to explore content in more depth.

The e-resource follows the structure of the guidelines. There are eight modules, one for each learning outcome, with topics addressing the indicators that follow under each module.

Module 1: Epidemiology of Opioid Use – Demonstrate an understanding of the clinical and recreational use of opioids in Canada, and the impact of their use on the health and well-being of people in Canada.
Module 2: Continuum of Care and Available Resources – Recognize the importance of a continuum of care and know the available resources for people using opioids and opioid use disorder.
Module 3: Screening, Assessment, Intervention, and Structured Follow-Up – Demonstrate culturally safe/appropriate screening, assessment, intervention, structured follow-up, and support skills related to opioid use and opioid use disorder.
Module 4: Trusting, Compassionate, Therapeutic Relationships – Establish a mutually trusting and therapeutic relationship with persons using opioids or persons with opioid use disorder, and their support networks.
Module 5: Trauma, Violence, and Cultural Safety – Integrate trauma- and violence-informed practice and cultural safety principles in providing care or services to persons who use opioids or persons with opioid use disorder.
Module 6: Opioid Use Education – Educate persons, families, support persons, communities, decision makers, Elders, other health care and social service professionals, and the public regarding opioid use and opioid use disorder.
Module 7: Pain Management – Explain pain and pain management specific to opioid use and opioid use disorders.
Module 8: Harm Reduction – Integrate knowledge of harm reduction in providing care or services to persons using opioids and persons with opioid use disorder.

While each of the modules were developed to complement each other and flow coherently as one unified resource, it is recognized that users may not approach this teaching and learning tool in a linear fashion. Educators and learners may prefer to select sections of interest to them. For this reason, each module is designed to stand alone.

Who?

Students and faculty in social work, pharmacy, and registered nursing programs.

Photo of young woman sitting cross-legged using laptop.

Why?

To address the opioid crisis with interprofessional information, resources, and tools related to opioid use and opioid use disorder.

Photo of two opioid pill bottles laying on their sides with lids off and pills spilling out of the bottles.

Key Considerations

The respective scope of practice and jurisdictional standards of practice of registered nurses, pharmacists, and social workers, will impact the depth of the learning related to some outcome indicators.
An awareness, understanding, and respect for the role and scope of each other’s professions is foundational to these interprofessional education guidelines, and to the effective interprofessional management of opioid use and opioid use disorder.
These learning outcomes were developed with the participation of representatives of a broad range of stakeholders including faculty, students, persons using drugs/persons with lived experience, professional regulatory bodies, professional associations, etc.
A recognition of the intercultural reality of Canada and of the uniqueness of every individual underpins the guidelines.
There is significant disproportionality in the prevalence of opioid-related harms in Canada and access to treatment. An understanding of age, racial, cultural, and sex/gender influences on opioid use and opioid use disorder demands critical analyses to address ongoing harms. An attempt has been made to bring such a lens to the learning outcomes in the guidelines. The need for ongoing enhancement of this, however, is recognized.
An understanding of the differential impact of opioid use and opioid use disorder for racialized people and Indigenous Peoples is important in applying the guidelines’ learning outcomes to curriculum development.
The concepts of cultural humility, cultural safety and awareness, harm reduction, trauma- and violence informed care, recovery, health equity, social, and structural determinants of health and intersectionality are prerequisite knowledge and underpin all of these learning outcomes.
The respectful acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples and their respective territories, an understanding of their cultural strengths, and knowledge of the systemic historical and contemporary traumas unique to Indigenous Peoples, are crucial in working alongside Indigenous communities, families, and individuals.
It is acknowledged that there are multiple ways of knowing: reason, sense perception, emotion, language, memory, intuition, faith, imagination (theoryofknowledge.net, n.d.), and Indigenous ways of knowing and being that see the whole person (physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual) as interconnected to land and in relation to others (family, communities, nations) (Cull, Hancock, McKeown, Pidgeon & Vedan, 2018).

CASN, AFPC, and CASWE-ACFTS are not-for-profit organizations committed to creating high quality and accessible educational resources. This bilingual open-access e-resource was made possible through funding from Health Canada.