Survey shows many doctors misunderstand opioid abuse

Teaser
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests many primary care physicians don’t understand facts on the abuse of prescription pain medications or how addictive formulations can be, which may be contributing to the epidemic of prescription opioid abuse.
Headline
New survey shows many doctors misunderstand opioid abuse
Body
Researchers found almost 50 percent of surveyors incorrectly thought that abuse-deterrent pills were actually less addictive than their standard counterparts. The pills are actually just as addictive.

“Physicians and patients may mistakenly view these medicines as safe in one form and dangerous in another, but these products are addictive no matter how you take them,” study leader G. Caleb Alexander, an associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology and co-director of the school’s Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness, said. “If doctors and patients fail to understand this, they may believe opioids are safer than is actually the case and prescribe them more readily than they should.”

The study also found:
• One-third of the doctors incorrectly said they believed that most prescription drug abuse is by means other than swallowing the pills as intended.
• All respondents believed that prescription drug abuse was at least a small problem in their communities, with more than half reporting it was a “big problem.”
• Nearly nine out of 10 physicians said they “strongly supported” requiring patients to get opioids from a single prescriber and/or pharmacy.
• Two-thirds of doctors strongly supported the use of patient contracts.
• More than one-half strongly supported the use of urine testing for chronic opioid users.