Legal Protection and Guidelines Against Opioid Abuse

Gain a better understanding on how clinics can help prevent issues revolving around opioid abuse and overdoses.

Once upon a time, prescribing pain medication was a simple task for a provider. In today's world, prescribing an opioid has become complex and challenging. And, providers have been held liable for their clinical decision making when it comes to appropriate pain management. Deaths due to prescription opioids has increased immensely. In 2017, opioid-prescription related deaths was five times higher than in 1999. With this high risk, providers are being held accountable in the courtroom. Each day, an estimated 130 people die due to opioid-associated events. This material will review the opioid abuse epidemic's background and causal factors. Learn the legal liabilities associated with prescribing opioids. Review clinical best practices which will provide background knowledge of appropriate provider behaviors and pain management. These best practices can be recommended when providers are working with challenging patients (i.e. talking points for difficult conversations involving opioids and pain contracts). This information will inform the audience of the background of the opioid abuse epidemic, how this impacts providers and malpractice claims, and how issues or overdoses can be prevented with clinical best practices. Become better equipped to know what red flags to look for when supporting provider colleagues.
*Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html*