Elements of surprise: Exploring predictive errors & treatment satisfaction across approved serious medical conditions for MMJ

As part of PCOM’s multi-study effort — developed in collaboration with Clinical Registrant partner Organic Remedies — to generate rigorous, practice‑focused evidence on how cannabis and its derivatives affect patients with a range of serious disorders. This initiative aims to fill fundamental gaps: identify which patients will benefit, determine effective treatment modalities, clarify benefits versus risks and uncover barriers to use.

This study addresses two linked concerns central to clinical decision-making and patient experience — predictive errors (the mismatch between expected and actual treatment outcomes) and treatment satisfaction — across the cadre of approved serious medical conditions for medical marijuana in Pennsylvania. By aligning with PCOM’s medicinal cannabis research focus areas — which span quality of life, behavior, cognition, chronic pain, opioid management, autism spectrum disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), drug usage in institutional settings such as nursing homes, and processing methods to remove contaminants — the project is positioned to leverage cross-study insights and established institutional resources. PCOM’s experience with related work, including studies that have monitored improvements in health-related quality of life after initiation of medical cannabis and pilot clinical research on prescription cannabinoids such as dronabinol for chronic pain, provides relevant methodological and clinical background. 

This study contribute to evidence that helps clinicians and patients calibrate expectations and make informed choices about cannabis-based therapies. Exploring predictive errors helps highlight where presumptions about efficacy, side effects, or onset/duration of benefit diverge from real-world patient experiences; linking these findings to measures of treatment satisfaction can identify patterns — for example, particular conditions, formulations or delivery methods associated with higher concordance between expectations and outcomes. As part of PCOM’s multi-study program, findings can be integrated with parallel work on cognition, behavior, opioid stewardship and safety processes (including contaminant removal), creating a richer understanding of cannabis therapeutic utility across approved serious conditions.

Additionally, the program’s educational components, such as a medicinal cannabis concentration within PCOM’s Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum and efforts to enhance pharmacy students’ counseling skills, provide pathways for translating study results into improved clinician training and patient counseling.