Primary care physicians recognize the risk of opioids to their patients and many have reduced opioid prescription in the past 12 months, according to Catherine Hwang and her associates.
Nearly all physicians in the study felt that opioid abuse was a moderate or big problem, with only 10% believing it was not a problem or was a small problem. Similar percentages of physicians agreed that opioids are overprescribed and that patients lie or exaggerate to get opioids. Large majorities were moderately to extremely concerned about a variety of potential incomes, with addiction the most concerning and nonadherence of the least concern.
Although nearly half of primary care physicians have reduced their rates of opioid prescribing, nearly all physicians expressed confidence in their clinical skills related to opioid prescription and about half were very or moderately comfortable using these drugs for chronic noncancer pain, the researchers said.
Read the full article at JAMA Internal Medicine (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.6520).