The Agency for Healthcare Quality & Research reports that although patients in the U.S. and England go to the dentist at similar rates, American dentists wrote 11.4 million prescriptions for opioids in 2016, compared with about 28,000 prescriptions written by their British counterparts, according to a new AHRQ study.
AHRQ says dentists are one of the most frequent prescribers of opioids, even though data suggest that non-opioid pain relievers are similarly effective for oral pain. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, compared prescriptions by dentists in both countries for opioids from outpatient pharmacies and healthcare settings.
They found that the proportion of prescriptions written by U.S. dentists was 37 times greater than those written by English dentists. U.S. dentists also prescribed long-acting opioids (e.g., oxycodone, meperidine), while English dentists did not. To reduce opioid prescribing, the authors suggested that U.S. dentists adapt measures like those used in England, including national guidelines for treating dental pain that emphasize a more conservative use of opioids.
Meanwhile, government agencies, advocacy groups, manufacturers and others are spearheading a variety programs and technologies in the effort to fight the opioid crisis, including the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) which launched a new CME Course to reduce opioid misuse and abuse.
The Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) continuing medical education (CME) course available online now or in person at ANESTHESIOLOGY 2019 in Orlando. The free course will help physician anesthesiologists, and other pain management specialists and prescribers, mitigate the opioid crisis through education on appropriate prescribing, effectively counseling patients on safe use, best practices for managing pain and opioid alternatives.
ASA pointed out that many states now require that practicing clinicians earn continuing medical education credits on the topic of pain management and safer prescribing as part of their medical license renewal cycle. Participants of ASA’s new course can choose from a variety of learning formats. The course will be instructed by expert physician anesthesiologists who will provide background on the ins and outs of managing patients’ pain, present and discuss patient cases, and walk through a patient/caregiver interview.
Course topics will include:
· Concepts of pain management and addiction medicine.
· Pain treatment plans – both opioid and non-opioid related approaches.
· Assessing patients’ risk for abuse and addiction.
· State and federal opioid prescribing regulations.
· Strategies to effectively initiate, modify or discontinue opioids, and counsel patients and caregivers about the safe use of opioids and naloxone, a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of an overdose.
