What Every Physiotherapist Needs To Know About Opioids

Overview

Join the Pain Science Division for this online course 'What Every Physiotherapist Needs To Know About Opioids'. This course will feature 3 speakers who will each present for 15 minutes, followed by a 5 minute Q&A period. 

Outline of Presentations

Presentation 1: What every physiotherapist should know about screening for substance abuse: rationale, tools, and techniques
Presenter: Ms Erika Lefebvre, psychologist

Ms. Lefebvre has a Doctorate in psychology and a Masters in Counseling psychology. She specializes in organizational psychology, substance use and trauma. She is experienced as a clinician, in business, in human resources management, in communications and in corporate training. She has worked for the Canadian Forces Medical Services on stress management and family violence prevention. For Transport Canada, she has worked as a teacher, coach, facilitator and instructional designer for the St. Paul’s University’s Group Intervention & Leadership Certificate program. She is presently working for the National Manager of the Employee & Organization Assistance Program for Public Services & Procurement Canada. She was invited to present her doctoral research on the leadership career progression of managers with dyslexia/ADHD at the World Congress on Contextual Behavioral Science in Dublin, Ireland in 2019.

Presentation 2: What clinicians can do to help addicted patients: A patient’s perspective
Presenter: Noella, patient

Noella, a lawyer by profession, is a 55-year-old woman living with the side effects of the drug Thalidomide. Being born missing her left arm, 4 malformations in her right arm, missing part of her right leg, and born without hip joints on either side of her body, she has walked since age 3 with a prosthetic leg on her right side. She has undergone many surgeries for her malformations and to help with her major scoliosis and the overuse of her limbs. 

In her adult life, she became addicted to oxycontin and oxycodone. She used these drugs for pain for more than 10 years and finally decided to stop cold turkey. 

She has a message to deliver to all clinicians that think that opioids relieve pain and on what to do to help patients wean themselves off from these types of drugs. 

Presentation 3: Can pain become addictive?
Presenter: Mr. Bahram Jam, physiotherapist

Bahram Jam had a Doctorate in Science in Physical Therapy. He is the founder and director of the Advanced Physical Therapy Education Institute and had instructed in many post-graduate clinical courses in Canada and internationally. He has extensive clinical experience in direct patient care and has a particular interest in physical therapy management of chronic debilitating pain. A video on opioid addiction prepared by Bahram Jam will be shown.