NPS MedicineWise opioid education programs for GPs and pharmacists (Australia)
Also: Chronic pain: opioids and beyond (2015) · Opioids, chronic pain and the bigger picture (2019-2020)
NPS MedicineWise, Australia's federally funded quality-use-of-medicines organization, ran two national education programs on opioids for chronic non-cancer pain: "Chronic pain: opioids and beyond" (2015) and "Opioids, chronic pain and the bigger picture" (from October 2019). Both used one-to-one and small-group educational visits to general practices, clinical audits, online modules and patient tools such as conversation starters and a pharmacist counselling checklist.
- Years
- 2015–2020
- Country
- Australia
- Topic
- Opioids
- Asks people to
- Stop
- Strategy
- Self efficacyTrusted messenger
- Channel
- Clinical settingPrintWebsite
- Audience
- CliniciansGeneral practitioners and community pharmacists; people with chronic non-cancer pain through patient resources.
Evidence
Self-reportedUnknown
2015 program: GP follow-up survey (187 participants, 14% response, vs 154 controls) reported knowledge gains such as more use of the "5As" review tool; the 2019-2020 program reached about 9,000 GPs and a post-visit survey of 721 GPs found 42% intending to change opioid practice. These are self-reported intentions and knowledge; no independent prescribing evaluation found.
Sponsor (who paid)
- NPS MedicineWise (funded by the Australian Government Department of Health) Foreign government, creator
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Sources
Research notes
Clinician-facing campaign. Discovered 2026-10-22 (clinician-campaigns pass). Painaustralia page fetched 2026-10-22 (describes the program, consumer advisory group, conversation starters and pharmacist counselling checklist). NPS MedicineWise closed in 2023 and its nps.org.au pages now redirect; the evaluation figures (187 GPs, 9,040 GPs reached, 721-GP survey) come from search snippets of nps.org.au pages and an ACSQHC program overview PDF that could not be opened - verify via Wayback before citing. Year range approximate.
Record cases/au-nps-medicinewise-opioids.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign