Funding
BupPractice was originally developed by Clinical Tools, Inc (CTI) with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grant #N44DA65530). We gratefully acknowledge this support, which was the sole funding source for that project’s development. Over 10,000 people were trained in the 8-hour waiver training (now inactive as an official training but available for trainees for review).
Clinical Tools, Inc. updated the original training program in May 2021 and transformed it into more concise, individual CE/CME activities with interactive cases.
No Industry Support
All materials on this website were developed in an industry-fund-free environment. No industry funding was used to create this website or these educational activities.
Purpose
These CE/CME activities are for clinicians who want to learn about prescribing buprenorphine and who do not require official training, i.e., who are treating 30 or fewer patients at a time.
There is a clear need for more primary care practitioners who can prescribe narcotics to become involved in buprenorphine treatment of their patients with opioid use disorder in their offices. Research evidence supports the effectiveness of office-based treatment, but few existing tools or resources are available to help primary care providers (PCPs) translate this research into practice.
Development
This project has developed a collection of tools and resources to support practitioners who want to prescribe office-based treatment for opioid use disorder and maintain their patients on buprenorphine.
Continuing Education Mission Statement
Clinical Tools, Inc. combines medicine, science, and technology to provide state-of-the-art online and training and education to improve patient care.
We strive to enhance the knowledge, skills, and practice of health care providers and trainees so they can improve patient health. Our standard incorporates the most up-to-date research and expert opinion. The company identifies content areas that are under-represented in current CME curricula, are skills-oriented and would benefit from internet delivery – including innovative uses of emerging technology.
Activity content is determined by analysis of gaps in performance, knowledge and competence, and patient outcomes, including national guidelines, best practices reports, user surveys, literature review, and consultations with experts. Our focus is on creating clinical skills-based training activities and evaluating each activity using metrics that relate to the targeted skills. Successful activities will improve competence, performance, skills, use of best practices, and patient outcomes. The impact is evaluated using both qualitative and quantitative methods to assure quality and to measure competence, skills, and behaviors essential to providing quality patient care and improving outcomes.
Clinical Tools does not participate in the delivery of complete and finalized training experiences. Nor do we participate when decisions have already been made regarding the practice gaps, content, delivery, authorship, or the assessment of the intervention. We only provide Category I CME (TM) for an activity when we are closely involved in meeting all of the ACCME requirements, including the collection, storage, and analysis of data on the impact of the activity on competence, performance, or patient outcomes.
Impact
BupPractice is designed to positively impact buprenorphine patient outcomes via online training for providers. In addition to providing the knowledge and skills needed to prescribe buprenorphine safely and effectively, BupPractice highlights ways to collaborate and communicate effectively with patients using a patient-centered approach, including information sharing, respect, support, and patient empowerment.
Providers who complete BupPractice will be able to establish rapport and cultivate a collaborative relationship with his or her patients. Patients who are engaged in their own treatment are more likely to pay attention to and follow important instructions regarding treatment. Additionally, providers will understand the importance of developing an accepting and supportive atmosphere to help patients return to treatment if they relapse, a point at which many patients are tempted to leave treatment.
Accreditation
Clinical Tools, Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Clinical Tools, Inc. is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP solely is responsible for all aspects of the activity.
Dissemination
Clinical Tools, and its gaming division Health Impact Studio, strives to share knowledge gained through the testing and use of its products. You can see our latest conference presentations, as well as our published research articles, at the Health Impact Studio site.
Future Plans
We will utilize our BupPractice curriculum to expand on further topics regarding opioid use, addiction, and treatment in other training activities. We envision that our bundled activities will be sold as a training tool for medical provider groups / offices in order to provide consistent and up-to-date education on this topic. This source of revenue will support any ongoing work needed to refine the product and allow consistent group training for these providers.
Acknowledgments
The site has been put through multiple rounds of iterative usability testing with primary care physicians and revised and improved according to feedback. The contributions of our panel of expert reviewers have also been instrumental in the development of this website. Thanks also to the CTI staff members who helped to develop this website. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback as we developed the materials for this site.
BupPractice Program Releases
- Buprenorphine Training Program v1.0 (Valid 2008-2011)
- Buprenorphine Training Program v2.0 (Valid 2012-2013)
- Buprenorphine Training Activity v3.0 (Valid 2014-2015)
- Buprenorphine Training Activity v4.0 (Valid 2015-2018)
- Buprenorphine Training Activity v5.0 (Valid 2018-2021)
