Prescription opioid abuse is at epidemic levels. Opioids diverted from friends and family members who have legitimate prescriptions are a major source of abused prescription opioids. Nurses are vital to any effort to combat this public health crisis because they have the opportunity to provide essential anticipatory guidance every time a patient receives prescription medication. The purpose of ...

BACKGROUND In Europe, scant information is available about prescription practices for pain medications. The aim of this research was to assess changes in prescription rates of non-opioid, weak opioid, and strong opioid medications between 2006 and 2013 in the Swiss population. METHODS Using insurance claims data covering one-sixth of the Swiss population, we analyzed the numbers of reimbursed...

OBJECTIVE To measure physicians' experiences with opioid-related adverse events and their perceived level of confidence in their opioid prescribing skills and practices. DESIGN Mailed survey. Setting The province of Ontario. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1000 primary care physicians randomly selected from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario registration database. MAIN OUTCOME MEAS...

The past decade has witnessed an alarming increase in the number of deaths due to prescription opioids that has paralleled the rise in the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed. Prescription drug monitoring programs, abuse-deterrent formulations and proper disposal of opioids have been promoted to help combat the opioid epidemic. We discuss changes that dentists, the third most frequent pres...

Opioids have been the mainstay for pain relief and palliation over a long period of time. They are commonly abused by drug addicts and such dependence usually imparts severe physiologic effects on multiple organ systems. The negative impact of opioids on the endocrine system is poorly understood and often underestimated. We describe a patient who developed severe suppression of the hypothalamic...

OBJECTIVES The main objectives of the paper were (1) to examine the prevalence of suicidality in a large community-based chronic pain sample taking prescribed opioids for chronic pain; and (2) to examine general and pain-specific factors that predict such ideation, and the transition from ideation to making a suicide attempt (ideation-to-action). MATERIALS AND METHODS Baseline data from the P...

background and objectives: pharmaceutical expenditures are responsible for a major part of health systems’ cost. according to the who’s statistics, iran is the first among the 20 countries in the world in terms of drug consumption. the first step in controlling consumption of a particular good is to identify factor inducing the relevant demands. hence, this study aimed to identify the pattern a...

Opioids are a mainstay of treatment for pain worldwide. Pruritus, common side effect opioids, is patient dissatisfier that limits their use in many clinical settings. Both parenteral and neuraxial administration opioids frequently evoke pruritus. The ability to suppress while causing itch continues perplex clinicians researchers alike. Several mechanisms have been proposed explain how can give ...

Background: Seventy percent of the yearly 1.8 million emergency contacts to Danish hospitals arrives from patients in pain. Pain management is an essential and challenging part medicine ineffective analgesia for attending department (ED) common can lead complications, extended hospital stays course illness. Opioid-tolerant are increasing challenge requiring different acute pain management, ie. ...