This website from the University of Massachusetts’s Division of Medical Toxicology contains several training videos on opioid safety for hospital providers. The 5 instructional videos are intended to educate providers on common pitfalls and evidence-based strategies for safe administration of opioids in the inpatient, hospital setting. Continue reading
Resource Tag: Prescription Opioids
Think it Through: A Guide to Managing the Benefits and Risks of Medicines
This patient education brochure addresses how to safely manage the risks of prescription medications. The brochure provides tips for patients on how to reduce the risks of medication through consultation with their prescriber or pharmacist and with simple actions patients can take. Continue reading
The STOP Measure: Safe & Transparent Opioid Prescribing to Promote Patient Safety & Reduced Risk of Opioid Misuse (2019 Update)
This updated America’s Health Insurance Plans’s (AHIP) report examines how insurers use claims data to measure prescriber adherence to prescribing guidelines – the STOP measure. Continue reading
Evidence Brief: Benefits and Harms of Long-term Opioid Dose Reduction or Discontinuation in Patients with Chronic Pain – Supplementary Materials
The supplementary materials to support the systematic review of the evidence for long term outcomes of tapering opioid doses in patients on long term opioid therapy for chronic pain from the Veterans Affairs Evidence Synthesis Program (ESP). These materials include search strategies used in the systematic review, inclusion/exclusion criteria for studies reviewed, evidence tables, and quality assessment of studies included in the review. Continue reading
Evidence Brief: Benefits and Harms of Long-term Opioid Dose Reduction or Discontinuation in Patients with Chronic Pain
A systematic review of the evidence for long term outcomes of tapering opioid doses in patients on long term opioid therapy for chronic pain from the Veterans Affairs Evidence Synthesis Program (ESP). The report analyzes published studies to determine the benefits and harms for patients when tapering their opioid medications to lower doses or discontinuation and reviews whether benefits and harms vary by Continue reading
DEA Information on Telemedicine (COVID-19)
This 1 page fact sheet from the Drug Enforcement Administration clarifies that during the Covid-19 public health emergency prescribers will be able to use telemedicine to evaluate a patient and prescribe schedule II-IV drugs. Continue reading
Tips for Talking about Opioids and Pain with Patients
Health care providers often request guidance on how to have conversations with patients about opioids, pain treatment, addiction and other topics that may be challenging. In this collection, we have gathered materials that provide support to providers as they have these difficult conversations. Continue reading
What Happens When You Flip the Script?
This 4 minute video from Minnesota’s Flip the Script campaign features interviews with a physician and patient about how the decision to change the patient’s opioid prescription improved the patient’s quality of life and the provider’s relationship to his patients and his practice. Continue reading
Minnesota Opioid Prescribing Guidelines – 2018 First Edition
The Minnesota Department of Human Services convened a group of stakeholders to address opioid prescribing in the state through the Opioid Prescribing Improvement Project. The Opioid Prescribing Workgroup produced these 2018 guidelines on opioid prescribing for use by providers Continue reading
Flip the Script: Discussion Guide for Non-Prescribers
A 4 page guide for non-prescribers about having difficult conversations with patients about pain management and opioids from Minnesota’s Flip the Script campaign. This guide provides information about the risks of long-term opioid therapy and provides information about understanding acute, post-acute and chronic pain. The guide provides talking points and specific language health care providers can use when talking to their patients and preparing patients to continue the discussion with their prescribing provider.