Use of a Nurse Pain Educator for Patients With Chronic Pain

The Nurse Pain Educator arm shall have two phases: a Pre-Teaching Phase and a Teaching/Knowledge Maintenance Phase. During the Pre-Teaching Phase, all subjects who are enrolled will complete different baseline assessments and will be prescribed an opioid. Subjects will then enter the Teaching/Knowledge Maintenance Phase. Subject enrolled into the Nurse Pain Educator arm will be educated on different opioid pain management topics with a focus on safe and appropriate use and consumption of opioid analgesics. Subjects will meet monthly with the Nurse Educator for up to 5 months for reinforcement of their training and to assess their use of their medication, their quality of life and their physical and mental well-being.

Subjects who are enrolled into the study arm with no Nurse Pain Educator will be monitored every month to assess their use of their medication, their quality of life and their physical and mental well-being. No intervention will be conducted with these subjects beyond that of standard of care at the facility. Subjects will be evaluated monthly but primary differences in outcomes will compare baseline to 6 months.

Inclusion criteria

• Ability to read, understand, and provide written informed consent
• Male or Female patients ≥ 18 years of age
• Diagnosed with non-cancer pain for >3 months
• Ability to meet study requirements (i.e., can attend monthly visits, able to complete questionnaires, etc.)
• Prescribed an oral opioid that will last duration of the study period
• Provide a completed Opioid Patient Prescriber Agreement

Exclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with chronic cancer pain
• Personal or family history of alcohol or drug abuse in the past 5 years
• Personal or family history of major mental illness