SAMHSA recommends that content should be “related to the prevention, recognition, and care of people with substance use disorders including those with concurrent pain and/or psychiatric and medical co-morbidities”. They recommend incorporating core curricular training elements that include the “categories of substance use disorders, effective treatment planning, and pain management and substance misuse”. In general, SAMHSA’s direction points CE providers to the following four elements:
- Learner competence (knows how; can apply knowledge to a scenario)
- Learner performance (shows; can demonstrate a change in practice or processes)
- Patient health (does; can show how patients have responded to a change)
- Community or population health (does; can show how groups of people have responded)
