Making Amends for the Opioid Epidemic

With the opioid epidemic now claimingnearly 2000 lives from overdose in the United States each month, the medical profession is increasingly accepting the assessment of noted surgeon and writer Atul Gawande, MD:“We started it.” Specialty societies such as theAmerican Academy of Family Physicians andAmerican College of Physicians are offering tools to reduce the unnecessary use of opioids for pain and the risk of addiction. The Federation of State Medical Boards has releasedguidelines for the treatment of chronic pain, and many state medical boards have adopted their own policies. Physicians are responding. Since peaking in 2012, opioid prescriptions havedeclined by more than one-fourth.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research