PRACTICE PARTNER
The team at U of T’s Safer Opioid Prescribing Program: (Back row, left to right) Dr Kate Hodgson, Dr. Kathleen
Doukas, Ms. Nancy Bush, (Front row, left to right) Dr. Abhimanyu Sud and Dr. Kirsten Dixon. Missing: Dr. Meera
Harris, Dr. Patrick Skalenda.
“The goal was to make these very accessible,
where people can do them on their own time,
at their own pace,” says Dr. Anthony Levin-
son, Project Lead and Director of DeLI.
The modules take about 1-2 hours on
average, and include a lot of multimedia
and interactivity. The appeal of e-Learning is
obvious, in allowing for so many educational
elements and offering convenience. Yet Dr.
Levinson says organizations should still be
deliberate in creating e-Learning, and users
should be discerning in signing up.
“The principles of instructional design,
whether online or face-to-face, are the most
important thing in determining effectiveness,”
says Dr. Levinson.
Webinars and workshop combine
Dr. Sud, who contributed to one of the Mc-
Master modules, agrees that sound design and
clear objectives should be at the forefront of
any CPD, regardless of the format.
The University of Toronto’s Safer Opioid
Prescribing Program includes a three-part
webinar series, followed by an in-person skill
development workshop (cpd.utoronto.ca/
opioidprescribing/). The sessions: 1) Assess-
ing Chronic Complex Pain; 2) Prescribing
Opioids in Chronic Pain; and 3) Addressing
Opioid Challenges.
While the series is available to all, Dr. Sud
wants to reach primary family physicians in
rural and remote communities. That’s where
there’s disproportionate harm from opioids,
and less access to CPD. “We see this as a
public health intervention,” he says.
Many e-Learning programs are asynchro-
nous, i.e. study on your own with no interac-
tions with other learners. The University of
Toronto program is synchronous, meaning
everyone participates at the same time. It cre-
ates a community of learning.
ISSUE 3, 2019 DIALOGUE
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