Death Notification as Behavior Modification: Let ' s think this through

by Ben Skoch (@skochb)Opioid Problem. Opioid Epidemic. Opioid Crisis.Call it what you will (as long as you don ’t use the word narcotic, butthat ’s another article), but the United States has a real issue with opioids right now. It has been much talked about, publicized, criticized, politicized, has left some people ostracized, to a point where the concern has become supersized. Six years ago,a reportstated enough opioid prescriptions were written for every adult in the US to have a bottle of pills, about 259 million. Couple that with thereport from the CDC that over 42,000 people died from opioid (illicit and prescribed) overdoses in 2016, more than any year on record, and it ’s easy to see why the topic has reached a fever pitch in our country.Many efforts to curb potential causes have been suggested, includinga list of “promising state strategies” set forth by the CDC. It is worrisome given the rising number of opioid-related deaths, along with nature of the problem including abuse of both prescribed and illicit opioids, that the current interventions have yet to tame this complex issue.A recent study published in Science examined a novel approach to influence prescribing patterns of healthcare professionals (including MDs, DOs, NPs, PAs, and DDSs/DNDs) in San Diego County. Over the period of one year (June 2016 to July 2017), the researchers worked with the medical examiner to investigate deaths that were directly related to schedule II, III, or IV drugs.Utilizi...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: behavior change burnout california journal article opioids research skoch The profession Source Type: blogs