One strategy for improving safe opioid prescribing is to have the patient and the health care provider enter into a prescription pain medication agreement. This sample agreement from SAMHSA can be used as is or adapted as needed.
Rx Pain Medications: Talking to Your Patients About Opioids
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
This one page document for health care providers provides guidance about how to talk to patients about pain management and opioids.
Rx Pain Medications: Prescribing Opioids: Reduce the Risk
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
This one page document for health care providers lists the facts about opioid use disorder and provides suggestions for how providers can reduce the use and misuse of opioids and reduce overdoses.
Prescribing Opioids for Women of Reproductive Age: Information for Dentists
Source: National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center
This 4 page briefing paper provides information for dentists about prescribing opioids for women of reproductive age and women who are pregnant. It includes information about neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome and provides guidelines for prescribing opioids for dental care providers. A six page version is also available.
Opioid Prescribing Guidelines for Dentists
Source: Oregon Health Authority
This one page document summarizes Oregon’s guidelines for opioid prescribing for dentists.
Oregon Chronic Opioid Prescribing Guidelines: Recommendations for the Safe Use of Opioid Medications for Patients with Chronic Pain
Source: Oregon Health Authority
Oregon’s chronic pain task force endorsed the 2016 Center for Disease Control’s Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain and prepared this report to provide additional clarity to the CDC guideline and address Oregon-specific issues such as legal marijuana.
Oregon Acute Opioid Prescribing Guidelines: Recommendations for Patients with Acute Pain Not Currently on Opioids
Source: Oregon Health Authority
These 2018 guidelines were developed to assist providers in making decisions about prescribing opioids for acute pain. The guidelines address opioid prescribing in patient care settings including outpatient care including emergency departments and primary care clinics, dental care, and surgical care, and are
Improving Opioid Prescribing
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
This 2 page briefing document provides guidance on improving opioid prescribing for health care providers. It emphasizes the importance health care providers in addressing the overdose epidemic by improving their understanding of pain management, improving the use of opioids for chronic pain treatment,
A Systematic Review of Strategies to Improve Appropriate Use of Opioids and to Reduce Opioid Use Disorder and Deaths from Prescription Opioids
Source: Andrewa D. Furlan, et al.
This Canadian systematic review of peer-reviewed and grey literature identifies successful strategies to improve appropriate use of prescription opioids while reducing misuse, abuse, and diversion of medications. They identified 66 distinct strategies implemented in health systems, government or public health
Risks of Benzodiazepines
Source: College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists
This 2019 publication from the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists lists the risks of benzodiazepine medications. Benzodiazepines may be prescribed for anxiety, insomnia, or other conditions, but the medications have serious side effects, most notably that patients can become dependent on the