Opioids: The Importance Of Trust And Verify N

Opioid addiction is so prevalent in the healthcare system because of the countless number of hospital patients being treated for chronic pain. While opioid analgesics have beneficial painkilling properties, they also yield detrimental dependence and addiction. There is a legitimate need for the health care system to provide powerful medications because prolonged pain limits activities of daily living, work productivity, quality of life, etc. (Taylor, 2015). Patients need to receive appropriate pain treatment, however, opioids need to be prescribed after careful consideration of the benefits and risks.

Rarely any physician intends to harm patients when he or she provides treatment to them. Patients see physicians and specialists in full faith that they will get help with a condition. What complicates the patient-doctor relationship is that the outcome of each patient’s treatment is different because of individual health conditions and the course of treatment chosen by the doctor. Problems arise when a patient is not satisfied with care provided by the doctor or in extreme cases when a patient dies. Since most of the time it is hard to clearly determine whether the outcome was solely a result of the course of treatment chosen by the doctor or whether other factors played a role too, quite often patients take their

Vivek Murthy, a U.S. Surgeon General, said he wanted to change the way Doctors have been taught to handle pain management for the last twenty to thirty years (824). The reason Murthy wants to do this is because while he was reading a training document for nurses and doctors it claimed , "If your patient is concerned that they may develop dependence on opioids, you can safely reassure them that addiction to opioids is very rare in patients who have pain" (823). This document also reassured doctors they could prescribe opioids as a long-term treatment. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention advises doctors that pain-relieving effects may wear off for long-term users(824). This explains how opioids can be used to deal with pain management, but if used as a long-term treatment it can create an

This lack of independence could further cause the patient to feel hopeless in their own recovery, which would lead to a lack of effort in getting better, causing a strain on the family members who are doing everything they can to improve the patient’s condition. Secondly, in spite of the short term effects, doctors do not practice appropriate care when prescribing opioid-based medications. According to Anna Lembke, in recent years American doctors have been “prescribing opioids with abandon for chronic, non-terminal pain” (“problem”), leading to an “epidemic of opioid painkiller overprescribing” (“Drug”, 57). If the patient feels like the doctor is giving him an opioid medication because it is the easiest course of action to deal with the pain, the patient may not fully trust his or her doctor to have the patient’s best interests at heart. The family of the patient may have the same mistrust for the doctor. Further than mistrust, it is possible that the patient and those caring for him or her may question the doctor’s knowledge and credentials. This mistrust could lead to the patient and the family (specifically the caregiver) neglecting to follow the doctor’s specific instructions as to usage of the medication, which could cause the pain relief to be less effective than is necessary, or could cause the patient to be in

While, CURES helps to identify red flags, there are no guidelines for pharmacists to ultimately make the final decision to fill an opioid prescription or not. CVS though, is making substantial changes to its pharmacy program. If a patient has a prescription for several weeks’ worth of an opioid and wants to fill that prescription for more than seven days, pre-authorization will be required and the drugs will have to be paid for out of pocket. CVS pharmacists will begin providing patients with thorough explanations as to why some of their opioid prescriptions won’t be filled. They will also be sure to counsel patients on the dangers of opioid dependence and addiction. As mentioned in Time, Dr. Steve Stanos, president of The American Academy

Over-prescribing opioids is frequent in doctors across Australia as patients are unaware of their addiction to pain medication. Doctors needs to be responsible for the patience health as legal precautions can be broken if not. Patients and doctors need to stay within their states regulations to properly take and prescribe opioids in order to prevent medicolegal risks and ensure safety.

Mandated limits on opioid prescriptions for acute pain offers the promise of advancing the safe use of these medications in two ways. First, it will reduce the exposure of first time users to these addictive substances following episodes of acute pain. For some patients who come to misuse opioids, the euphoria or sedating effects of these medications are initially experienced in the context of routine medical care. There are countless anecdotes of patients who take opioids for a minor orthopedic injury or some other acute pain condition and then go on to use prescription opioids non-medically. A recent population-based study suggested that 6% of incident opioid users progress to long-term use.4 Another study found that patients who received opioids following minor surgery were 44% more likely to become long-term opioid users compared to those who did not.5 Decreasing the initial amount dispensed may potentially lessen the risk that patients develop an affinity for these drugs and transition to chronic use or misuse.

This author goes into great depth in telling what these medications are and what they do. She even goes as far as to tell how much pharmacies profit from patients pain and addiction. Although overdose is a concern with these medications, pain can also cause some people to contemplate suicide. This made medical professionals step back and ask themselves what would be the best way to save a life in that particular situation. (Kirkey-3). Although Kirkey talks about the risk

There are many various kinds of prescription of pain relievers, which include: opioids, corticosteroids, antidepressants and anticonvulsants (anti-seizure medications). Among them I would like to focus on opioid medications and its side effects. Opioid medications are narcotic pain medications that contain natural poppy plant, synthetic opiates such as; methadone, fentanyl, tapentadol and tramadol, as well as the semi- synthetic opioids such as; oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone and heroin. Opioid prescriptions are morphine (C17H19NO3), heroin (C21H23NO5), codeine (C18H21NO3) and thebaine (C19H21NO3). They are highly addictive substances are called opiates. Opioid medications have been used for hundreds and thousands of years to treat both pain and mental health problems. It is also use in a short-term pain after surgery. According to the survey in the past two decades, the prescription of opioid in the United States has been increased to the higher levels that is more than 600% (Paulozzi & Baldwin, 2012). However, that opioid medications are very dangerous to the patients’ respiratory system, other parts of the internal body and even can cause death. It should be only being use after wise discernment and with a great care.

The mentality of some patients that are prescribed painkillers is that it will cure whatever illness they may have and permanently take away the pain; however painkillers, are supposed to be used to reduce pain for a short period of time to bring comfort to a patient. Due to this mentality, it is becoming more common to run to pain medications; even when some pain can be treated with other methods. In order to start to cure this epidemic, patients need to be compliant with how they are supposed to properly use these types of medications. (Grounder,

In 2008, prescription drugs spending was $234.1 billion, almost 6 times the $40.3 billion spent in 1990. Moreover, 70% of Americans were found taking at least one prescription drug and more than half of those patients were already on two or more prescription drugs. As a result, drugs-related deaths have become the fourth leading cause of death in America, and one of the biggest culprit is the overprescribing of opioid pain medications. The use of hydrocodone and oxycodone, the two most common opioids, by Americans is frightening. In fact, statistics show that 99% and 80% of the world’s use of hydrocodone and oxycodone respectively are done by Americans. Thus, the rate of death due to opioids overdose has quadrupled since 1999. In most cases, opioid pain medications are usually reserved specifically for cancer patients or patients in hospice care when their pain becomes unbearable. Opioids can also be used for a maximum of three days to relieve short-term pain, but a survey from the National Safety Council showed that almost all of the doctors prescribe the medications for a longer period of time and disturbingly, 20% percent of the doctors put their patients on the pills for one month. I believe this isn’t due to bad intention from the doctors. They just want to help their patient feel better but they’ve underestimated the addiction that comes hand in

Emergency rooms, and Emergency medical services, who are already overloaded are now responding to overdoses. First responders are so busy with opioid overdoses, they are not responding to potential heart attacks, strokes, or other emergencies. This leads to additional healthcare costs, and eventually higher insurance rates. With addiction, health care utilization, and overdose deaths on the rise, federal policy statements are recommending implementing measures to decrease inappropriate prescribing, further training on opioid medications for physicians, and new treatment plans that safely manage pain. ("Patient Satisfaction, Prescription Drug Abuse, and Potential Unintended Consequences," 4). A major improvement to the health care delivery system has been patient-centered care. Patients expect their requests to be fulfilled and with a new survey driven healthcare model, this is a difficult barrier for physicians. Prior to prescribing opioid medications, physicians are encouraged to try alternative medications, recommend lifestyle changes, and make it very clear that opioids are not the best option. Sometimes however, I patient expects to receive the prescription they are used to. When dissatisfied with the care received, patients are likely to give lower scores. For this reason, some changes to the current survey system may be necessary to help lower the rate of inappropriate prescribing of opioid

During the interview with these physicians questions will be asked in order to get a sense of their understanding of opioids and which they prefer to use. In addition, it will be recorded them to ensure no piece of information is lost or unheard. In order to validate the information the physicians are relaying, observation of the physicians first hand to see which opioid they are using for each patient's specific case will be done. Searching of the physicians past patients' files will be executed as well. This is to see if what the physician states they are doing and which opioid they are using for a specific condition consistently matches the

Patient’s are usually not fully aware of the risks and side effects that prescription painkillers hold. Doctors, patients, and drug companies all play a role in the lack of knowledge of these drugs. Doctors do not necessarily have the complete knowledge of every drug out on the market. Some patients do not have the patience or find it necessary to do some of their own research on whatever drug they are putting into their body. Drug companies push their products and downplay the risks and side effects they carry with them. It is important to educate yourself on what you are putting into your body even if it is prescribed to

In the United States, there is a common assumption that if a doctor recommends or prescribes it, it must be safe. While prescription painkillers can be beneficial and necessary in the controlling of pain, they also lead many individuals to life-controlling addictions every year. When the prescription is written without questions, the patient gets what they came for. So in a situation like this the prescriber would be at fault.