BC ECHO on Substance Use – Opioid Use Disorder: Cycle 4, Session 4
Transitions between pharmacotherapies for opioid use disorder: Methadone to buprenorphine/naloxone
Thursday March 25, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM PDT
Presenter: Dr. Ramm Hering, Medical Director, Addiction Medicine, Island Health; Physician Lead, Addiction Medicine Consult Service (AMCS), Royal Jubilee and Victoria General Hospitals, Island Health; Victoria Site Director, BC Centre on Substance Use Addiction Medicine Fellowship; Clinical Instructor, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
At the end of this session, you should be able to:
1. Offer patients who wish to simplify treatment or are having side effects from methadone the opportunity to transition to buprenorphine/naloxone
2. Safely transition a patient between different pharmacotherapies for opioid use disorder (i.e., from methadone to buprenorphine/naloxone)
3. Compare and contrast different strategies for transitioning a patient from methadone to buprenorphine/naloxone
4. Explain a care plan for this transition to a patient
5. Determine which point-of-care and laboratory tests are clinically useful and appropriate during transitions between pharmacotherapies (i.e., from methadone to buprenorphine/naloxone), and when to use them