Abuse of prescription of narcotics in primary care and its prevention Dissertation

Abuse of prescription of narcotics in primary care and its prevention - Dissertation Example Journal Issue, Pages: Journal of General Internal Medicine Vol. 21 No. 6 Pages 652-655. Year published Years data collected: Published in 2006. Purpose: To determine in community health care environments the level of satisfaction with regard to training received on current practices in the management of pain among the care providers. Methodology, Variables Design, Sample, Instruments: Qualitative study. Variables Design: Issues involving reaching optimal control of pain in patients and approaches that would assist in improving prescribing of opioids in managing chronic pain. Sample: 67 attending physicians, 19 nurse practitioners, 3 physician assistants, and 22 family practice residents, making a total of 111 participants from 178 selected. Instruments: Survey questionnaire relating to satisfaction with training and care delivery with regards to chronic pain, issues concerning chronic pain management, possibility of prescribing opioids, and estimation of the probability of psycho-soc ial co-morbidities Findings: From a wide perspective there was low satisfaction among primary care providers in satisfaction of the treatment of chronic pain. For most of the attending physicians the training received in chronic pain treatment during their medical education and residency training was insufficient. For most of the care providers the major barriers to optimal pain treatment were patient self-management, patient, psychological factors, and patient compliance. There was a low rate of willingness to prescribe opioids, with the factor of the patients selling the opioids being the main barrier. Moe frequent visits raised the likelihood of willingness to prescribe opioids. Comments, Implications, Limitations: Primary care providers hold the view that the patients are the biggest barrier to optimal chronic care in primary care settings. Implications: The findings of the study suggest that education and training of primary care providers in chronic pain treatment should have a greater focus on patient oriented approaches in the management of chronic pain, and how to deal with substance abuse and addiction. Strengths: Survey questionnaire grounded in earlier studies, with assistance from a group consisting of primary care providers, researchers, and a pain specialist. Limitation: Small sample size limits the generalization of the findings of the study. Theme – 1: Lack of education of primary care providers about pain management. Unique Identifier: Sullivan 2 Authors: Sullivan, M. D., Edlund, M. J., Zhang, L., Unutzer, J. & Wells, K. B. Title: Association Between Mental Health Disorders, Problem Drug Use, and Regular Prescription Opioid Use. Journal Issue, Pages: Archives of Internal Medicine Vol. 166 Pages 2087-2093. Year published Years data collected: Published in 2006. 1998 and 2001. Purpose: To investigate whether mental disorders enhance the risk of opioid use or whether opioid enhances the risk for mental disorders from a large cross section of the population. Methodology, Variables Design, Sample, Instruments: Cross-sectional Qualitative study. Variables: Dependent Variables – Regular prescription opioid use. Independent Variables – Mental health and problem drug use. Sample: 6439 individuals matching the inclusion criteria from the 1998 and 2001 waves of the population-base survey Health-care for Communities (HCC). Instruments: Data from the 1998 and 2001 waves of the population-base survey Health-care for Communities (HCC). Findings: Patients on regular prescription opioids had the higher risk probability by two to three times to seek mental health assistance. Continued use of opioids by patients from 1998-2001 was associated with a higher risk for common mental