An adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as “harm experienced by a patient as a result of exposure to a medication.”1 The Institute of Medicine says an ADE is “an injury resulting from a medical intervention.”2 Like any adverse event, occurrence of an ADE does not necessarily indicate an error or poor quality care. However, adverse drug events account for nearly 700,000 emergency department visits and 100,000 hospitalizations annually.1
Learn More »Decreasing Opioid Overdose Risk for New Patients on High-Dose Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain
The most conservative addiction and overdose prevention policies and procedures can’t protect a primary care clinician from inheriting a patient who is taking high doses of opioids for chronic pain. In many cases, because of the patient’s limited resources or the limited number of specialists in the community, primary care clinicians are expected to satisfy the patient’s needs for specialty care, including pain management, mental health, and physical therapy. Although there is no perfect solution for clinicians faced with these challenging patients, the following recommendations can decrease the risk of overdose and increase the chance that patients can be transitioned to safer pain management:*
Learn More »Pain Management vs. Treating the Underlying Causes of Pain
According to the defense expert in the following case, patients who can’t or won’t engage in alternative treatments for their pain should not be prescribed pain medications as a matter of course. Consider how the overdose in the following case could have been prevented if the internist had followed the CDC opioid prescribing guidelines.
Learn More »Concurrent use of opioid pain medications, benzodiazepines, antihistamines, antipsychotics, antianxiety agents, or other CNS depressants increases a patient’s risk for overdose.1
Learn More »Physicians need to be especially careful when managing chronic pain with opioid medications. Medical practices often seek risk management advice when they suspect a patient is misusing prescription medications, is not complying with treatment, or when the patient is making unreasonable demands for more opioids. If a patient suffers harm as a result of opioid medication use, a physician may become the target of a lawsuit alleging negligent treatment of chronic pain.
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