A Contemporary Medicolegal Analysis of Outpatient Medication Management in Chronic Pain.

CONCLUSIONS: Claims related to outpatient medication management in pain medicine are multifactorial, stemming from deficits in clinical judgment by physicians, noncooperation in care by patients, and poor clinical documentation. Minimization of both legal risk and patient harm can be achieved by carefully selecting patients for chronic opioid therapy and documenting compliance and improvement with the treatment plan. Medical comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnea and the use of long-acting opioids may be particularly dangerous. Continuing physician education on the safest and most effective approaches to manage these medications in everyday practice will lead to both improved legal security and patient safety. PMID: 29049120 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Anesthesia and Analgesia - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Anesth Analg Source Type: research