Opioid Safety Toolkit
| Saturday, May 3, 2025 |
| 9:45 AM - 10:15 AM |
Overview
Suzanne Neilson and Pene Wood
Details
In August 2024, a new digital toolkit was launched to increase consumer health literacy around prescription opioid safety. This interactive toolkit was developed through extensive co-design with consumers and healthcare professionals and was designed to encourage more open and informed conversations about opioid safety and increase naloxone uptake among people who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain enhancing clinical outcomes and medication safety.
This session will give you an overview of the toolkit and its development and give pharmacists practical ways to implement and utilise the toolkit in their practice particularly when undertaking medication reviews. The session will focus on the clinical tools within the Toolkit, including the Routine Opioid Outcome Monitoring Tool (ROOM) – a validated outcome tool that aligns with the 5As framework for monitoring analgesic outcomes. Attendees will have a chance to practice using the tools in the online toolkit, including key discussion points with patients based on ROOM responses.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the components of the opioid safety toolkit.
2. Describe how to use the ROOM tool in a patient consultation.
3. Discuss effective opioid safety plans for your patients’ prescribed opioids.
4. Recognise the use of naloxone with patients prescribed opioids for persistent/chronic pain.
Competency standards (2016): 1.6, 3.3, 3.5
Speaker
Prof Suzanne Nielsen
Professor and Deputy Director, Monash Addiction Research Centre
Monash University
Opioid safety toolkit
Biography
Professor Suzanne Nielsen (BPharmSc[Hons] PhD MPS) is the Deputy Director of the Monash Addiction Research Centre at Monash University in Melbourne. She has been a registered pharmacist for over 20 years, with clinical experience in the treatment of substance use disorders in community pharmacy and specialist drug treatment settings in Australia and the United Kingdom. Her research focusses on understanding prescription and over-the-counter drug-related problems and identifying effective policy and practice interventions to reduced opioid-related and other drug-related harm.
Dr Pene Wood
GP Practice Pharmacist / Pain Pharmacist
IPC Health / Headspace
Opioid Safety Toolkit
Biography
Dr. Pene Wood B.Pharm(Hons) MPS CredPharm (MMR) PhD has worked in pharmacy practice for over 20 years including Community Pharmacy, academia, at the Western Victoria PHN as the Opioid Management Team lead and then as the Quality Use of Medicine lead; and as an embedded practice pharmacist at Wathaurong Health Service ACCHO.
Her current roles are as a GP practice pharmacist specialising in pain and addiction, working in both headspace in Frankston and IPC Health Community Health in Deer Park where she is part of the “Power Over Pain” interdisciplinary team.
She also still holds an honorary position at La Trobe University as an adjunct lecturer in pharmacy and an affiliate appointment at Monash University Eastern Health Clinical School.
Pene completed her doctorate in 2021, with her thesis “Opioids: What Role Can the Pharmacist Play?”. In addition, Pene has her own consultant business in which she provides medication reviews, workshops and other training, advice, mentorship, and research in various areas relating to pharmacy practice in particular pain and addiction.
