Americans are using opioids at an alarming rate, whether through prescriptions or illegal means. Parallel to this problem is the use of opioids during pregnancy.

The goal for this course is to present RNs, PAs, physicians, and entry-level drug and alcohol counselors in inpatient or outpatient settings with best practices for identifying and managing pregnant women who are using opioids.

Within any healthcare organization, there are systems, policies, and procedures that can be improved or events that could have been prevented. A root cause analysis is a tool that helps healthcare organizations improve their systems by using a team process of discovery. When you understand how to use a root cause analysis, you can apply it to create better solutions, prevent adverse events, and create more effective and efficient systems. This course discusses what a root cause analysis is and how to use it.

Telehealth offers numerous benefits and poses several challenges when used to treat behavioral health conditions. Many challenges can be addressed through specific problem-solving and communication strategies.

This course provides an overview of telehealth as well as a discussion of both benefits and challenges. You will learn the regulatory issues you should consider when preparing and implementing a telehealth practice. Lastly, this course highlights important strategies to develop rapport and promote engagement when treating clients via telehealth.

Trauma-informed care recognizes and responds to the effects of trauma. All clients should receive trauma-informed care.

Opioid misuse is a leading cause of unintentional injury and death among adolescents and young adults (Hudgins et al., 2019). More than 80% of adolescents who die from an opioid overdose do so accidentally, reflecting in part their lack of understanding and underestimation of the dangers inherent in the misuse of opioid medications (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023).

Along with the increased risk of lethal overdose, adolescents who misuse prescription opioids are at increased risk of severe medical complications that necessitate emergency treatment, progression to drugs with even greater potential for lethality such as heroin, and the development of a substance use disorder (Davis et al., 2020).

The goal of this course is to provide addictions, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human services with information on the development, prevalence, and treatment of opioid use disorders in adolescent and young adult populations.

This course covers the essentials of emergency department (ED) triage, including triage strategies, systems, and scales used to prioritize patient care. Learners will explore key concepts such as the ESI system, vertical split flow, and the impact of accurate triage on patient safety and ED efficiency. Focus is also placed on the importance of ongoing education, reassessment, and collaboration within healthcare teams.

This course provides ED nurses and providers with a comprehensive understanding of the triage process. 

This course provides information about the dynamics of intimate partner violence, or IPV, risk factors, safety concerns, screening measures, and how staff can be the most helpful in these situations.

The goal of this course is to help administrative staff, general staff, and direct care staff in all healthcare settings gain a basic understanding of the dynamics of intimate partner violence.

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was implemented in 1996 and has evolved significantly. While HIPAA regulations have many varying components, the part of HIPAA most relevant to healthcare professionals centers around protecting an individual’s healthcare information. Because you play a key role in the production of healthcare information, you play a key role in its protection.

This course aims to provide licensed professionals with an understanding of HIPAA, privacy, and security.

Veterans are at risk for behavioral health conditions due to a combination of experiences and risk factors. In this course, you will learn best practices to address mental health issues common among veterans. You will also learn about screening tools, risk factors, and clinical interventions.

Workplace violence (WPV) is common in acute care settings, such as the emergency department (ED). It has negative consequences for patients, staff, and services, including a loss of staff that may lead to increased recruitment and retention costs.

Preparedness for WPV should not just be a burden for the staff. It should be implemented by the organization, which in turn should ensure that each unit is equipped to manage WPV. 

This course provides healthcare workers with the necessary skills and knowledge to identify, prevent, and effectively manage instances of violence in acute care settings, thereby enhancing patient and staff safety.

When lifestyle modifications such as improving nutrition and increasing physical activity do not achieve adequate weight loss, pharmacotherapies may be needed. Pharmacotherapy is used as a supplement to lifestyle modifications and should only be implemented in patients who meet certain criteria and have a need to reduce their risk of obesity-related comorbidities. This course will review candidate criteria for weight management drugs, which drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and their safety or effectiveness. It will also review dietary supplements used for weight loss and the lifestyle behaviors needed to increase the efficacy of pharmacotherapies. The goal of this course is to educate the healthcare team in the acute care setting on weight loss medications.

Substance use is linked to millions of deaths worldwide each year (Ritchie & Roser, 2019). Supporting individuals’ long-term recovery from substance use can help save lives. Recovery is a lifelong process that aims to keep an individual substance-free while improving their overall quality of life. Wellness strategies enhance recovery outcomes by focusing on optimal health across all dimensions of an individual’s life.

This course is designed to provide greater awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace, steps to take to prevent it, and methods to deal with it if it does occur. The course will focus on federal laws, liability issues, harassment policies, employee rights, supervisor responsibilities, and investigation procedures.

Writing incident reports is an important part of providing direct support services. Your reports help the person's support team respond effectively to their needs and keep them safe in the future. 

The goal of this course is to teach DSPs in IDD settings the key elements of an incident report, why they are important, and how to write them effectively.

Wrong-site surgery (WSS) has been consistently ranked among the top four most reported sentinel events in the U.S. healthcare system for 5 years in a row, as reported in the Joint Commission’s annual sentinel events report in 2023. Despite being classified as a "never event," the occurrence of WSS is still alarmingly high. These events are both shocking and damaging to the public's trust in the healthcare system.

This course provides physicians, nurses, and surgical technologists with knowledge of evidence-based practices for preventing wrong-site surgeries.