Massive Open Online Course

Impacting the Opioid Crisis: Prevention, Education, and Practice for Non-Prescribing Providers

This open-learning course is designed primarily for non-prescribing healthcare, behavioral health, dental and social services professionals, as well as graduate-level students in these fields. Other individuals may also benefit from this course such as educators and physicians.

How it Works

This course will empower non-prescribing providers to directly impact the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States through increased knowledge and tools that will transform practice and policies. The course will inform you about the opioid epidemic and provide information and research about evidence-based strategies that are focused on prevention, intervention, education, or policy.

As a learner, you will have the ability to select all modules or individual topics that interest you most. The course can be followed in a linear or non-linear structure according to your preferred viewing order, and is taught by experts in the field of opioid prevention, intervention, treatment, and policy. Through lectures, panels and interviews, knowledge checks and quizzes, and additional readings and activities, you can explore topics that are most relevant to your work or practice.

Access the Course

Enroll Now

This course is available on both Coursera and edX platforms.

The project was developed collaboratively between the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, the U-M Injury Prevention Center, Michigan OPEN, and the Center for Academic Innovation.

Course Objectives & Curriculum

Enrolled participants will learn to:

  • Understand different aspects of public policy that can impact the opioid epidemic.
  • Explain the factors that contributed to the current opioid crisis.
  • Understand the pathophysiology of pain and its treatment, including what opioids are and how they work.
  • Understand how to reduce unintended use and misuse of opioids using various strategies, including prescribing guidelines, surveillance, safe disposal of unused opioids, and intervention messaging.
  • Identify what strategies and tools you can employ to impact the safe use of opioids across clinical care settings and with a variety of populations.
  • Describe best practices for assessing and treating opioid use disorder (OUD) and explain the evidence that informs these best practices.

The course covers the following topics:

Course introduction and overview of the factors that contributed to the current opioid crisis

Introduction to the pathophysiology of pain and its treatment, including the definition of opioids and how they work

Covers how to reduce unintended use and misuse of opioids using various strategies, including prescribing guidelines, surveillance, safe disposal of unused opioids, and interventional messaging

An overview of the strategies and tools you can use to impact the safe use of opioids across clinical care settings and with a variety of populations.

Overview of best practices for assessing and treating opioid use disorder (OUD) and an overview of the evidence that informs these best practices

Covers different aspects of public policy that can impact the opioid epidemic

Free Continuing Education

For more information about the course, including the complete syllabus, planners and presenters, disclosures of relevant relationships, participation method, and CME credit, follow the link to the course for your platform of choice.

Accreditation and Designation Statements

The University of Michigan Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Michigan Medical School designates this enduring material for a maximum of 16 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology™ program and MOCA® are registered trademarks of The American Board of Anesthesiology®. This activity contributes to the CME component of the American Board of Anesthesiology’s redesigned Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology™ (MOCA®) program, known as MOCA 2.0®. Please consult the ABA website, www.theABA.org, for a list of all MOCA 2.0 requirements.

Released for CME Credit on 2/16/23, with credit available through 1/31/26.

This course is approved by the NASW-Michigan Social Work Continuing Education Collaborative. Approval #112723-00 for 16 CE hours. This on-demand course is approved for 12 months.