Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

Catherine R. Friedman, MD is a psychiatrist at Bradley and Hasbro Children's Hospitals, and assistant professor (clinical) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Friedman has board certifications in addiction medicine, child and adolescent psychiatry, and general psychiatry. She has worked extensively with children, adolescents, and families affected by substance use disorder. She previously worked in women's behavioral health at Women and Infants Hospital where she was the psychiatrist for Project Link—a program for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders. Prior to that she worked in a similar program for opioid-dependent pregnant and post-partum women in Pittsburgh.

Dr. Friedman received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, did graduate work at The Rockefeller University in New York, and earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed an internship in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California San Francisco. She trained in psychiatry at The Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where she completed a residency in general adult psychiatry and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry.   

Dr. Friedman is involved in educating providers and trainees about addiction in multiple settings. Among other activities, she is director of the Child and Adolescent Addiction Medicine Rotation for a new Brown fellowship in addiction medicine. She is on the planning committee for the American Society of Addiciton Medicine (ASAM)'s live course on fundamentals of addiction medicine, and is co-chair for an initiative to expand this co-use to a live and on-line certificate program. She is vice-chair of ASAM's CME committee.

Her specific research and clinical interests include co-occurring disorders in adolescents and children, addiction as a family disease, gender differences in co-occuring disorders at all stages of the life span, psychiatric disorders and menarche, and perinatal addictions. She has lectured in multiple settings, from local to international, on these and related topics and also published in these areas.

Summary

This eight-hour course prepares physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to prescribe buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder in their office, with a focus on the treatment of adolescents and young adults. The course will also fulfill waiver training requirements for providers who do not specialize in adolescent or pediatric care. The curriculum includes the science of addiction as a brain disorder, the pharmacology of buprenorphine, and the regulatory requirements around prescribing this medication. In addition to addressing the management of buprenorphine treatment in the general population, particular attention will be devoted to the special considerations involved in treating adolescents and young adults.

Attendees will learn to screen patients for treatment with buprenorphine and to manage the medication along with the patient's other medical needs in an outpatient office setting. The course fulfills eight hours of the training needed to obtain a waiver to prescribe buprenorphine. The Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) requires physicians to complete eight hours of approved training in order to be eligible for a waiver, and nurse practitioners and physician assistants to complete 24 hours.

 Learning Objectives 

 At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Assess and identify patients who are appropriate for treatment with buprenorphine, including adolescent patients.
2. Have the specific knowledge concerning how to use buprenorphine to manage opioid dependence in the outpatient setting.
3. Be able to identify and to discuss the psychiatric and medical co-morbidities associated with opioid addiction, including in adolescents. 
4. If physicians they will have met the training requirements to apply for a waiver to prescribe buprenorphine to their patients with opioid use disorder.

 Details 

• Target audience: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, nurses and others involved in the care of adolescents who misuse opioids may also benefit from this training. All heath care professionals that are interested.
• Instructional level: Intermediate
• Eight CE hours/credits (see below) 
• Four CE hours/credits for nonprescribers—live piece only (see below)
• Lunch will be provided

 Registration 

• Program fee: $49 
• Online registration closes on Wednesday, October 9.
• Phone registration: Please call the department of behavioral education at 401-606-5752.
• For refund/cancellation information please email bradleyconferencesup@lifespan.org or call Liz DeFreitas at 401-606-5752.