Now is a good time to consider safer methods of pain management.  Physical Therapy is such a choice. Please read the following new guidelines coming out this week.

CDC Issues New Guidelines for Opioid Prescribing — Physician’s First Watch

MEDICAL NEWS | 

PHYSICIAN'S FIRST WATCH

March 16, 2016

CDC Issues New Guidelines for Opioid Prescribing

By Kelly Young

Edited by Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

The CDC has issued 12 new recommendations for clinicians prescribing opioids for pain outside of cancer treatment or palliative care. The full guideline is published in MMWR.

Among the recommendations:

• For chronic pain, the first choices of treatment should be nonpharmacologic or nonopioid. Opioids should be an option only if the expected pain and function benefits outweigh the potential risks.
• Patients starting opioids should be prescribed immediate-release opioids at the lowest effective dose, not extended-release/long-acting opioids.
• Individual benefits and risks should be reassessed when increasing the dosage to 50 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) or more per day. Dosages of 90 MME or more should be avoided, or clinicians should "carefully justify a decision" to increase the dosage to that level.
• For acute pain, an opioid prescription for 3 days or fewer will often be enough. More than 1 week is rarely needed.
• Clinicians should regularly evaluate risk factors for opioid-related harms (e.g., history of overdose or substance use disorder) and consider offering naloxone to high-risk patients.
• Concurrent prescriptions of opioids and benzodiazepines should be avoided.

Interesting reading !