Description
Medication Assisted Treatment of Opioid Addiction using Buprenorphine
Course Summary:
This course is designed for physicians to make practical and informed decisions about the treatment of opioid addiction with buprenorphine.
The course addresses the history of treatment of opioid addiction, current
state of treatment, buprenorphine profiles, pharmacology, effectiveness,
patient assessment, treatment appropriateness, treatment protocols, and
policies and procedures in the use of buprenorphine.
Course Goals/objectives:
Upon completion of this course, the student(physician) should be able to:
• Perform initial screening and assessment of patients with opioid addiction
• Determine the appropriateness of buprenorphine treatment for patients with opioid addiction
• Provide treatment of opioid addiction with buprenorphine according to established protocols
• Assess for the presence of and arrange appropriate treatment services for co-morbid medical and psychosocial conditions.
• Determine when to seek specialty addiction treatment referral or consultation
Your Course Instructor: Robert Shearer, PhD
Dr. Robert A. Shearer is a retired professor of criminal justice in the College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University. He has been teaching, training, consulting, and conducting research in the fields of criminal justice, human behavior, and addictions for over thirty-six years. He is the author of over sixty professional and refereed articles in criminal justice and behavior. He is also the author of Interviewing: Theories, Techniques, and Practices, 5th edition published by Prentice Hall. Dr. Shearer has also created over a dozen measurement, research, and assessment instruments in criminal justice and addictions including Law Enforcement Strategies Scale (LSS), Correctional Strategies Scale (CSS), Probation Strategies Scale (PSS), Correctional Treatment Resistance Scale (CTRS), the Comprehensive Substance Abuse Counseling Orientation Inventory (CSACOI), and the Substance Abuse Consequences Scale (SACS).
He has been a psychotherapist in private practice and served as a consultant to dozens of local, state, and national agencies. He has taught courses in interviewing, human behavior, substance abuse counseling, drugs and crime, and correctional counseling. He is currently developing an Interrogation Tactics Scale that measures levels of approval of coercion in interrogations with suspected offenders.
He has been the president of the International Association of Addictions and Offender Counseling and editor of the Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling. Recently, Dr. Shearer completed a survey of the beliefs of over 300 substance abuse counselors in a large correctional system in the southwestern U.S. He is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma.