Impact evaluation of a brief online training module on physician use of the Maryland, USA, Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

BACKGROUND: Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) are electronic databases that track controlled substance prescriptions in a state. They are underused tools in preventing opioid abuse. Most PDMP education research measures changes in knowledge or confidence rather than behavior. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of online case-based training on healthcare provider use of the Maryland (USA) PDMP. METHODS: We used e-mail distribution lists to recruit providers to complete a brief educational module. Using a pre-training and post-training survey in the module, we measured self-reported PDMP use patterns and perceived PDMP value in specific clinical situations and compared pre- and post-training responses. Within the module, we presented three fictional pain cases and asked participants how they would manage each, both before, and then after presenting prescription drug history simulating a PDMP report. We measured changes in the fictional case treatment plans before and after seeing prescription history. Finally, we measured and compared how often each participant accessed the Maryland PDMP database before and after completing the educational module. We used multivariate logistic regression to measure the effect of the intervention on actual PDMP use frequency. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty participants enrolled and completed the training module, and we successfully retrieved real-world PDMP use data of 137 of them. Participants’ decisions to prescribe opioids changed significantly after reviewing PDMP data in each of the fictional cases provided in the module. In the months following the training, the rate of PDMP use increased by a median of four use-cases per month among providers in practice for less than 20 years (p = 0.039) and two use-cases per month among infrequent opioid prescribers (p = 0.014). CONCLUSION: A brief online case-based educational intervention was associated with a significant increase in the rate of PDMP use among infrequent opioid prescribers and those in practice less than 20 years.