How Do I Satisfy the New York State Mandatory Prescriber Education Course Requirement Online?

Finish this critical requirement from home using Orbit and get tuned up to help fight the opioid crisis with the latest research

Using Orbit, you’ll finish your NY State prescriber education requirement from home while mastering the latest recommendations that you identify from self-directed research on PubMed.

The New York State Mandatory Prescriber Education Course Requirement is focused on educating the entire healthcare team to heal the devastating opioid crisis. By staying current on the latest recommendations, you’ll save lives. Now you can finish this requirement from home using Orbit together with PubMed (free), and earn credit for reading the most current literature on the opioid crisis.

What’s the law on prescriber training?

Pursuant to Public Health Law (PHL) §3309-a(3), prescribers licensed under Title Eight of the Education Law in New York to treat humans and who have a DEA registration number to prescribe controlled substances, as well as medical residents who prescribe controlled substances under a facility DEA registration number, must complete at least three (3) hours of course work or training in pain management, palliative care, and addiction. The course work or training must be completed by July 1,2017, and once every three years thereafter.

From browsing activity at home to credits

The new browser plugin from Orbit tracks your web activity and awards you credit for visiting peer-reviewed abstracts and articles. Installing the plugin takes seconds on your Chrome desktop browser. While you’re logged into the plugin, you’ll receive AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for studying peer reviewed articles that you encounter while searching from google. The credits are reviewed and certified by Tufts University School of Medicine.

Eight topics you’ll need to satisfy the requirement

You’ll need to read articles that cover all of the following areas in order to satisfy the New York State Mandatory Prescriber Education Course Requirement:

1. NYS & Federal Requirements for prescribing controlled substances
2. Pain Management
3. Appropriate prescribing
4. Managing acute pain
5. Palliative Medicine
6. Prevention, screening, and signs of addiction
7. Responses to abuse and addiction
8. End of Life Care

Great articles with free access that satisfy the eight-topic requirement

We’ve identified the following collection of wonderful freely available articles. Read all of them while logged into the Orbit plugin to satisfy all 8 topics.

In total, you’ll need 6 articles to meet the 3 credit requirement. We’ve identified four below, so find two more current articles on PubMed that relate to any of the above topics and you’ll be all set.

1. “Prescription of Controlled Substances: Benefits and Risks”, Charles V. Preuss; Arun Kalava; Kevin C. King, StatPearls, Dec 29, 2018.
   Author affiliations: University of South Florida, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center
   Synopsis: Appropriate treatment of pain with opioids is challenging. This article discusses a wide range of topics including basic mechanisms of acute and chronic pain, the Controlled Substances Act, characteristics of addiction, consultations for addiction, diagnosing pain, and treatment planning.
   NY State Topics covered: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7

Using Orbit, reading this article on controlled substances satisfies NY State-required topics 1–4, 6, and 7.

2. “Opioid Overdose”, StatPearls, Elizabeth Y. Schiller; Oren J. Mechanic, March 2, 2019.
Author affiliations: University of Connecticut, Harvard Medical School/BIDMC
Synopsis: Diagnosis and treatment of opioid overdose is a critical skill for healthcare workers. The basic science, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations of opioid overdose are discussed, including naloxone administration and withdrawal management.
NY state topics covered: 3, 7

3. “Integrating palliative care into the trajectory of cancer care”, Nat Rev Clin Oncol, 2016 Mar; 13(3): 159–171.
Author affiliations: University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Synopsis: The goal of palliative care is to improve quality of life and alleviate the suffering of patients and their family. This article provides a comprehensive review of palliative care and end of life care in relation to cancer treatment, including historical context and holistic multidisciplinary elements.
NY state topics covered: 5, 8

Using Orbit, reading this article on palliative care satisfies topics 5 and 8

4. “Prescription Drug Monitoring Program”, StatPearls, Ryan S. D’Souza, Jason S. Eldrige, January 17, 2019.
Author affiliation: Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation
Synopsis: This article discusses the New York State Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) in the context of other similar state and national programs to combat the opioid crisis.
NY State Topics covered: 1

Using Orbit, reading this article on palliative care satisfies topic 1

Submitting credits to your administrator

In order to submit your credits from Orbit, tag each article with the Controlled Substances tag (and any other relevant tags) to keep the credits grouped in the audit report. Print the audit report with one click from the Dashboard, and share it with your administrator as a cloud-hosted web link or save to PDF. You can also print your official controlled substances certificate directly from the Orbit Dashboard.

Discovering other articles on controlled substances

If these articles are outdated by the time you’re reading this post, the nice thing about using Orbit is that you can select more recent articles and use those to satisfy the requirement. That way, you’re always learning from the most current recommendations, and getting credit for it.

We strongly recommend that you begin your search for new articles from PubMed, because it’s the most reputable source of peer-reviewed abstracts anywhere, and it’s free. For many articles, you’ll also find links to free versions of the full article in case you want to explore more deeply. If you find an abstract or article on PubMed that you think we should include in this post, feel free to drop us a line at support@orbitcme.com — we’d love to hear from you.

— Orbit Staff

Last updated: April 8, 2019

Orbit helps restore work-life balance by awarding CME and CE for the internet-based learning that doctors, PAs and nurses already perform while caring for patients.