Presented to the Faculty
of the University of Alaska Anchorage
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCEThe purpose of this project was to determine chronic opioid pain management practices of
Alaskan Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in primary care, compare them to best practices, and describe
perceived barriers to evidence-based guideline use. Participants included NPs in Alaska who
work in primary care and currently have an active Alaska NP license and Alaska mailing
address. This project answered the questions of to what extent primary care NP practices are
consistent with current Federation of State Medical Boards (2013) guidelines when managing
chronic non-cancer pain with opioid therapy as well as identified the perceived barriers to
guideline use. A cross sectional, descriptive design was used. The principal investigator mailed
a paper survey to a convenience sample of NPs in Alaska. Nurse practitioners in Alaska follow
guidelines when initiating opioid therapy most of the time, with all but three guidelines being
followed ‘very frequently’ by at least 50% of respondents. Respondents follow guidelines less
often when managing opioid therapy with only one guidelines being followed ‘very frequently’
by at least 50% of respondents. Two major barriers to guideline use include resource and
knowledge barriers. The findings of this project were used to make clinical recommendations for
improved practice.Signature Page / Title Page / Abstract / Table of Contents / List of Figures / List of Tables / List of Appendices / Introduction / Significance to Alaska Advance Nursing Practice / Purpose / Literature Review / Research Question / Methods / Results / Discussion / Implications / Dissemination / References / Appendice
