Grant: Op. Gr: Ev. of Interv. to Address Opioid Crisis- Non-pharm. interv. in pain mngt

Chronic pain affects more women than men and women are more likely to have their pain undertreated. Women are also at greater risk for developing an opioid use disorder and face more barriers than men to access treatments. This has implications in the context of interventions geared to address the opioid crisis. It is important to assess if interventions will have a differential effect on the treatment of pain for men and women as well as people identifying at different points on the gender spectrum or if they will succeed in reducing inequities in the management of pain and opioid use disorders. Project ECHO Chronic Pain and Opioid Stewardship offers weekly case-based and didactic continuing medical education sessions for health care professional in the community, with demonstrated positive effects on primary care providers chronic pain management knowledge, self-efficacy and health care practices. This project will focus on evaluating the impact of two modules focused on deprescribing opioids and use of buprenorphine/nalaxone. Using provincial databases, we will evaluate if the program will lead to differential change in prescribing patterns for men and women. This information will be used to provide feed-back to participants, program leaders, and decision makers.