How Physicians Communicate the Risks of Opioid Medications to Patients

Attendees will gain a better understanding of how physicians make decisions about what risks to communicate with patients. Over a decade into the opioid crisis, these new findings will reflect what physicians have learned about their roles in communicating medication risk to patients, as well as the ways they may have implemented opioid safeguarding techniques such as the use of prescription data monitoring systems. This rich data uses the extended parallel process model to gain a theoretical understanding of how physicians attribute risk to opioids (and susceptibility to that risk to their patients) and how well physicians perceive that their communication can mitigate those risks. Attendees will also learn how risk communication is essential in health communication contexts. Attendees may also learn what risk information doctors do not often communicate to their patients about opioids or other medications and may therefore gain new insight into what questions are important to ask their own healthcare providers when they are prescribed a new medication.

At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the ways family physicians and internal medicine practitioners communicate the risks of opioids to their patients.
2. Explore the extent to which physicians perceive their role as risk communicators.
3. Articulate the role of patient-provider communication in risk management during opioid prescribing interactions.

Competencies that will be covered include: 

4.2.3 Use a logic model and/or theory for research.

4.5.1 Communicate findings by preparing reports, and presentations, and by other means.

Sponsored by the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is designated for Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES®) and/or Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES®) to receive up to 1.0 total Category I contact education contact hours.

SOPHE is a provider of Certified in Public Health (CPH) Renewal Credits. A total of 1.0 CPH Renewal credits are provided on behalf of the National Board of Public Health Examiners.