I live in a place with zero prescription oversight, of any type, and where double doctoring is accepted as the norm. People here will have GPs, by condition, or use specialists as GPs. There is no visibility into what has been prescribed by anyone for anything. We are looking to provide visibility. But it is the other end of the spectrum. I don’t think it is better. Where is the right answer?
Very interesting again Rick. I didn't know this history.
In the last few years, a number of experts have lauded the decrease in opioid prescribing as a success in education and safety. But IMO this decrease has been offset by an increase in other drugs like Gabapentin/Lyrica/etc. The urge to fill people with pills until they stop complaining to us doctors is still strong in modern medicine.
What they don't offset with gabapentin, etc., they do offset with street opiates.
When you look at the number of people to whom prescription opiates were dispensed, versus the number who say they've taken them for "pain", it's obvious a lot of people are using drugs that weren't prescribed for them. Throw in the other group that use pharmaceutical opiates to feed their addiction, or for recreational purposes, and it seems obvious that prescription monitoring is looking at the tip of the iceberg.
I live in a place with zero prescription oversight, of any type, and where double doctoring is accepted as the norm. People here will have GPs, by condition, or use specialists as GPs. There is no visibility into what has been prescribed by anyone for anything. We are looking to provide visibility. But it is the other end of the spectrum. I don’t think it is better. Where is the right answer?
Very interesting again Rick. I didn't know this history.
In the last few years, a number of experts have lauded the decrease in opioid prescribing as a success in education and safety. But IMO this decrease has been offset by an increase in other drugs like Gabapentin/Lyrica/etc. The urge to fill people with pills until they stop complaining to us doctors is still strong in modern medicine.
What they don't offset with gabapentin, etc., they do offset with street opiates.
When you look at the number of people to whom prescription opiates were dispensed, versus the number who say they've taken them for "pain", it's obvious a lot of people are using drugs that weren't prescribed for them. Throw in the other group that use pharmaceutical opiates to feed their addiction, or for recreational purposes, and it seems obvious that prescription monitoring is looking at the tip of the iceberg.