Strategies for Appropriate Opioid Prescribing: The Florida Requirement _ _____________________________
Before deciding to prescribe an opioid analgesic, clinicians should perform and document a detailed patient assessment that includes [1]: • Pain indications for opioid therapy • Nature and intensity of pain • Past and current pain treatments and patient response • Comorbid conditions • Pain impact on physical and psychologic function • Social support, housing, and employment • Home environment (i.e., stressful or supportive) • Pain impact on sleep, mood, work, relationships, leisure, and substance use • Patient history of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse Depression is perhaps the single most important comorbidity in patients with chronic pain and is vastly underdiagnosed and untreated. Patients with unrecognized and untreated depression are unlikely to respond to opioids and other pain therapies, but successful treatment of depression can promote analgesia [62]. If substance abuse is active, in remission, or in the patient’s history, consult an addiction specialist before starting opioids [1]. In active substance abuse, do not prescribe opioids until the patient is engaged in a treatment/recovery program or other arrangements made, such as addiction professional co-management and additional monitoring. When considering an opioid analgesic (particularly those that are extended-release or long-acting), one must always weigh the benefits against the risks of overdose, abuse, addiction, physical dependence and tolerance, adverse drug interactions, and accidental exposure by children [44; 63]. Screening and assessment tools can help guide patient stratification according to risk level and inform the appropriate degree of structure and monitoring in the treatment plan. It should be noted that despite widespread endorsement of screening tool use to help determine patient risk level, most tools have not been extensively evaluated, validated, or compared to each other, and evidence of their reliability is poor [64]. Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) The Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) is a five-item assessment to help predict aberrant drug-related behavior. The ORT is also used to establish patient risk level through categorization into low, medium, or high levels of risk for aberrant drug-related behaviors based on responses to questions of previous alcohol/ drug abuse, psychologic disorders, and other risk factors [65; 66]. Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain- Revised (SOAPP-R) The Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain- Revised (SOAPP-R) is a patient-administered, 24-item screen with questions addressing history of alcohol/substance use,
psychologic status, mood, cravings, and stress. Like the ORT, the SOAPP-R helps assess risk level of aberrant drug-related behaviors and the appropriate extent of monitoring [67; 68]. Screening Instrument or Substance Abuse Potential (SISAP) The Screening Instrument or Substance Abuse Potential (SISAP) tool is a self-administered, five-item questionnaire addressing history developed to predict the risk of opioid misuse. The SISAP is used to identify patients with a history of alcohol/substance abuse and improve pain management by facilitating focus on the appropriate use of opioid analgesics and therapeutic outcomes in the majority of patients who are not at risk of opioid abuse, while carefully monitoring those who may be at greater risk [69]. CAGE and CAGE-AID The original CAGE (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, and Eye- opener) Questionnaire consisted of four questions designed to help clinicians determine the likelihood that a patient was misusing or abusing alcohol. These same four questions were modified to create the CAGE-AID (adapted to include drugs), revised to assess the likelihood of current substance abuse [70]. Diagnosis, Intractability, Risk, and Efficacy (DIRE) Tool The Diagnosis, Intractability, Risk, and Efficacy (DIRE) risk assessment tool is a clinician-rated questionnaire that is used to predict patient compliance with long-term opioid therapy [71]. Patients scoring lower on the DIRE tool are poor candidates for long-term opioid analgesia. Mental Health Screening Tool The Mental Health Screening Tool is a five-item screen that asks about a patient’s feelings of happiness, calmness, peacefulness, nervousness, and depression in the past month [72]. A lower score on this tool is an indicator that the patient should be referred to a specialist for pain management. CREATING A TREATMENT PLAN Opioid therapy should be presented as a trial for a pre-defined period (e.g., ≤30 days). The goals of treatment should be established with all patients prior to the initiation of opioid therapy, including reasonable improvements in pain, function, depression, anxiety, and avoidance of unnecessary or excessive medication use [1; 44]. The treatment plan should describe therapy selection, measures of progress, and other diagnostic evaluations, consultations, referrals, and therapies. All patients prescribed an opioid for pain related to a traumatic injury (severity score ≥9) should be concurrently prescribed an antagonist (e.g., naloxone) [54]. In opioid-naïve patients, start at the lowest possible dose and titrate to effect. Dosages for opioid-tolerant patients should always be individualized and titrated by efficacy and tolerability [1]. The need for frequent progress and benefit/ risk assessments during the trial should be included in patient education. Patients should also have full knowledge of the warning signs and symptoms of respiratory depression.
32
MDFL0626
Powered by FlippingBook