Document Detail


State medical board members' beliefs about pain, addiction, and diversion and abuse: a changing regulatory environment.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  17627894     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Three national surveys were conducted in 1991, 1997, and 2004 to evaluate state medical board members' knowledge and attitudes about prescribing opioid analgesics for pain management. Topics addressed include perceived legality of prolonged opioid prescribing, characteristics of addiction, prevalence of medication abuse and diversion, and perceived importance and influence of medical board policy. Questions were added in 2004 to determine board members' views about law enforcement involvement in physician investigations and prosecutions. This study assesses medical regulators' current beliefs and compares the 2004 responses with previous responses to determine how knowledge and attitudes about prescribing opioids have changed in recent years. Survey results show that board members have a greater understanding of pain management issues, particularly regarding characteristics of addiction and the legality of prolonged opioid prescribing for chronic noncancer pain. During the last 15 years, there has been substantial regulatory policy development, with medical boards adopting regulations, guidelines, or policy statements to provide guidance to licensees about using opioids to treat pain. However, many board members believe that federal and state law enforcement agencies have increased criminal investigations and prosecutions of physicians. We discuss appropriate regulatory and law enforcement responses to opioid prescribing violations, and suggest crucial next steps. PERSPECTIVE: The authors examine the evolution of state medical board members' knowledge and attitudes about prescribing opioid analgesics to treat chronic pain, demonstrate that medical regulators believe that there have been increased criminal investigations and prosecutions of physicians for their prescribing practices, and suggest ways to avoid unwarranted criminal prosecutions.
Authors:
Aaron M Gilson; Martha A Maurer; David E Joranson
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2007-07-12
Journal Detail:
Title:  The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society     Volume:  8     ISSN:  1526-5900     ISO Abbreviation:  J Pain     Publication Date:  2007 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2007-09-10     Completed Date:  2007-11-20     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  100898657     Medline TA:  J Pain     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  682-91     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Pain and Policy Studies Group, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53711-1068, USA. amgilson@wisc.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Analgesics, Opioid / therapeutic use*
Attitude to Health*
Chronic Disease
Clinical Competence*
Criminal Law / legislation & jurisprudence*,  trends
Drug Utilization
Drug and Narcotic Control / legislation & jurisprudence*,  trends
Federal Government
Humans
Licensure, Medical*
Middle Aged
Opioid-Related Disorders / prevention & control*
Pain / drug therapy*
Pain Clinics / legislation & jurisprudence,  standards
Physician's Practice Patterns
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Questionnaires
Specialty Boards / standards,  trends*
State Government
Wisconsin
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Analgesics, Opioid

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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