Can online training uplift opioid sparing strategies?
Opioid analgesic prescribing has been in trouble for decades in North America. Things are changing, though. Still, there’s room to adjust care, especially new starts.
Exploring barriers and facilitators to health equity
[April 27] The ongoing opioid crisis continues to inflict serious harms on thousands of British Columbians. Some harms are due to initiation of opioid analgesics in primary care which contributes to the development of prescription opioid addiction and opioid use disorder (OUD) in up to a quarter of all individuals started on opioid analgesics. (more…)
Newly started primary care opioid prescriptions plateaued in 2018-2019
Our new study published in the Canadian Journal of Addiction found plateauing rates of new starts of opioid analgesics in British Columbia in 2018-2019. We wanted to find out how many and what kind of opioid prescriptions were started to opioid naïve patients by family physicians in British Columbia. (more…)
Can intentional substance use reduce illicit opioid use?
Have you ever intentionally used an alternate substance to control or reduce your use of illicit (non-prescribed) opioids?
Self-managed use is one way to reduce the psychological, social and physical harms related to substance use. While chronic addiction interferes with self-control, even people living with the most severe addictions can self-manage their use.
This changed my practice
Can We Identify Patients at Risk for Opioid Use Disorder when Beginning Opioid Analgesics for Pain from New or Ongoing Non-cancer Causes?
There is growing recognition that opioid prescribing can lead to prescription opioid use disorder (OUD). It is estimated that nearly 115,000 British Columbians have become addicted to opioids. There is a need to safely reduce the volume of new opioid prescriptions for opioid naïve patients. read more…