Interprofessional pain management for adults with substance use disorders through an academic-community partnership

The high prevalence of chronic pain and the relationship between pain self-management and dependence on substances necessitates exposing health care practitioners to opportunities that incorporate comprehensive interprofessional pain assessment, management, and intervention strategies as part of their clinical training. The Student Health Outreach for Wellness (SHOW), a multi-university interprofessional education and practice organization, aimed to provide these meaningful interprofessional experiences for the current and future healthcare workforce while concurrently addressing needs in the local community. This curricular resource describes how SHOW partnered with Crossroads Inc. to create a model of interprofessional academic-community partnership that provided community-based direct patient care and health promotion services, including non-pharmacological approaches to interprofessional pain management, to adults living with substance use disorders (SUDs) in residential treatment facilities. By year two of this grant funded project, this partnership model improved resident experiences of care and population health measures, expanded services at reduced cost, developed interprofessional skills for faculty and students through collaborative integrated team-based care, and resulted in post-graduation employment in SUDs and the development of an integrated state licensed clinic.