A drug problem in rural Georgia

Meet Johnathan, a 34-year-old male from rural Georgia we recently treated for back pain as a result of some extra contractor work he took on over the holidays.  We see patients like him every 11 minutes, which doesn’t leave much time to get beyond Johnathan’s chief complaint.  He leaves with his first prescription for opioids. *** Of the 91 Americans taken each day, Georgia now claims four, or more than twice our share.  Deaths from prescription opioid overdoses increased tenfold between 1999 and 2015, compared to fourfold nationally, putting us among the nation’s top 10 states with the most deaths from opioid overdose. It’s safe to say our national epidemic has particularly devastated our state during the past two decades. As medical best practices spread quicker in today’s digital age, medicine has become increasingly standardized with less variability; according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), however, opioid prescribing can vary by a factor of six across counties.  Opioid prescribing is an anomaly in modern medicine, with some areas lagging far behind others, and our state, unfortunately, is the picture of that anomaly. When we examine the areas of highest prevalence to learn why, we see higher prescriptions tied to areas with higher unemployment or populations with diabetes, arthritis, or disability.  We have plenty of those areas. Shortly after his initial injury Johnathan went on disability leave and returned the next month for...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Meds Pain Management Primary Care Source Type: blogs