3 things every physician should do when treating pain

A panel of physician experts offered three actions every physician can take to appropriately treat patients with acute or chronic pain. Presenting at the 2016 AMA Annual Meeting, they also discussed tools that can help keep patients safe from overdose and improve their quality of life.

The panel was comprised of physician representatives from the AMA Task Force to Reduce Prescription Opioid Abuse and one of the nation’s leading health policy experts.

In light of the opioid epidemic, the task force has put forth recommendations for physicians. “These recommendations come from our colleagues,” Patrice A. Harris, MD, psychiatrist and chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, said. “We are better physicians when we learn from one another.”

Dr. Harris said the task force is encouraging physicians to support comprehensive pain care and reduce the stigma associated with pain, reduce the stigma of substance use disorders, increase access to treatment and naloxone, and to use state PDMPs to make more informed prescribing decisions.

Using PDMPs to improve care

“[Guidelines] are useful to inform clinical judgement,” said Cynthia Reilly, director of the prescription drug abuse project at Pew Charitable Trusts, “but they alone will not reduce the harm that we see from opioids. Really, one of the challenges here is unless you are aware of medications that your patients may be receiving from other prescribers—even if you follow those guidelines to a ‘T’—the patie...

Source: AMA Wire - June 22, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news