diff --git a/examples/openthread/main.c b/examples/openthread/main.c
index facd03fb61..a4bd1341fb 100644
--- a/examples/openthread/main.c
+++ b/examples/openthread/main.c
@@ -16,15 +16,37 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 
 #include "ot.h"
+#include "openthread/thread.h"
+
+static void _panid_handler(event_t *event);
+
+static event_t event_panid = {
+    .handler = _panid_handler
+};
+
+static void _panid_handler(event_t *event)
+{
+    (void) event;
+
+    /* It's safe here to call any OpenThread specific API, since this code runs
+     * in the same thread as the OpenThread tasklet handler */
+
+    /* Get PanID from OpenThread API */
+    uint16_t panid = otLinkGetPanId(openthread_get_instance());
+    printf("Current panid: 0x%x\n", panid);
+}
 
 int main(void)
 {
-    puts("This a test for OpenThread");
     /* Example of how to call OpenThread stack functions */
-    puts("Get PANID ");
-    uint16_t panid = 0;
-    uint8_t res = ot_call_command("panid", NULL, (void*)&panid);
-    printf("Current panid: 0x%x (res:%x)\n", panid, res);
+    puts("This is an OpenThread example");
+
+    /** OpenThread needs to synchronize otApi calls
+     * with its tasklet scheduler. This
+     * synchronization is handled by RIOT using an
+     * event queue (accessible via openthread_get_evq())
+     */
+    event_post(openthread_get_evq(), &event_panid);
 
     return 0;
 }