Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University released a report March 2, 2011 regarding primary care physician's lax monitoring of patients prescribed narcotic pain relievers.
The report is in the March online edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, and showed little monitoring by physicians even for patients at higher risks for misuse of opioid medications such as those with a drug abuse, or dependence history according to newswise.com.
Prescription drug abuse now ranks second behind marijuana among drugs used illicitly according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, (NIDA).
In 2009 approximately 2.2 million Americans used prescription pain relievers for non-medical reasons for the first time says NIDA. There are now approximately 23 million Americans that have substance abuse problems.
The study involved 1600 primary care patients for about 2 years who received prescription opioid medication for chronic, non-cancer pain. Researchers "...looked at whether patients received urine drug testing, were seen regularly in the office, or received multiple early opioid refills," reported newswise.com.
The bottom line in this study is that "the patients who were more likely to receive multiple early refills of their prescription were those at greater risk for opioid misuse.
Lead author of the study, Johanna Starrels, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine at Einstein stated, "We were disturbed to find that patients with a drug use disorder were seen less frequently in the office and were prescribed more early refills than patients without these disorders."
Prescription drug abuse, especially with the opiates, is a major concern in the U.S. as many already know. Teens, and their families are being cut down faster than corn at harvest time, and it's just getting worse.
In a 2004 NIDA report about 48 million persons aged 12 and over had taken prescription drugs for reasons other than medical. This represents about 20 percent of the population.
The drugs most abused were opiates, central nervous system depressants like Valium, Xanax, and the stimulants. Often, teens mix these drugs as well, compounding both the effects, and consequences, including death.
Doctors can reduce the risk to patients by adopting the following strategies outlined by Dr. Starrels and her team.
- standardize a plan of care for all patients on long-term opioids
- urine drug testing
- schedule regular face-to-face office visits to evaluate patients’ response to opioids and evidence of misuse
- stick to a previously agreed-upon refill schedule
That by no means will stop the industrious, doctor shopping addicts from obtaining what they want, but it may reduce the risk of creating new addicts from those that are just dependent. A very big difference in the 2 by the way.
And parents, please take the time to talk to your kids about drug abuse. Do so early, and often. You never know whose door drug abuse, and/or addiction might sneak through.
Peace...
- The adolescent brain is not fully developed, making a young person extremely vulnerable to drug and alcohol addiction
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