CDC’s Opioid Prescribing Guidelines
The release of the CDC’s opioid prescribing guidelines comes after the narcotic painkiller epidemic in the U.S. reached new highs, with prescriptions and sales quadrupling since 1999 and overdose deaths increasing by 137 percent since 2000, with 2014 alone in 2014. 47,000 people died.
To reduce those soaring numbers, the CDC is now urging doctors to ensure patients are educated about the risks of opioid painkillers. Focusing on 12 principles, the CDC guidelines call on physicians to encourage patients to use other effective treatments available, including non-opioid medications, ice packs, talk therapy and exercise, which have been shown to help reduce chronic low back, knee and knee pain. Hip pain.
The guidelines also call on physicians to let patients know what they can expect, that they won’t be 100% pain-free, communicate and set realistic pain management goals, and never start on long-acting opioids, but use the lowest possible Dose dose.
FDA Uniform Opioid Prescribing Guidelines
In October 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held an Opioid Prescribing Symposium to consider implementing a mandatory education program for physicians who dispense opioids in order to harmonize all powerful and addictive pain relievers across the country Prescription for medicine.
The public workshop is the first in a series of discussions on mandatory opioid prescriber education, the agency said. FDA is considering the need for mandatory education of opioid prescribers through the Opioid Analgesic (OA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS).
REMS is an FDA program that typically monitors drugs that have a high potential for serious adverse reactions, or drugs that have a high risk of abuse or misuse, such as opioids. REMS programs generally require physicians to undergo an educational program before being permitted to prescribe specific medications.
The FDA typically decides to include a drug in the REMS program when it first receives FDA approval or when new adverse side effects are reported. In some cases, however, a REMS program is required after a drug has already been marketed because post-marketing surveillance has revealed that the drug has unanticipated risks.
