Opioid prescriptions that are given to ER patients are less likely to result in potentially-fatal drug addictions, a new study has found.
The study by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) found that prescriptions for opioids that last longer than seven days are distributed in ER settings 91 percent less frequently than they are outside of these departments.
The researchers concluded that prescriptions from ERs are usually for lower doses of painkillers and that ER doctors are more likely to follow the CDC’s recommended guidelines for prescribing.
The analysis highlights evidence that emergency room doctors are prescribing highly addictive painkillers more responsibly than medical professionals outside ER department settings, thus limiting the beginnings of deadly, lifelong addictions.
The news comes at a time when public health officials are struggling to control the growing opioid crisis and urging doctors to exhaust every option possible before prescribing the drugs.
A new report from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) has found that ER doctors are more likely to prescribe opioids safely and in line with guidelines set forth by the CDC (file photo)
The number of prescriptions written for opioids has quadrupled in the last 20 years, alarming public health officials who have not been able to come up with lasting solutions for the crisis.
The epidemic killed half a million Americans from 2000 to 2014, at which point the opioid overdose death rate for people of all ages hit an all time high.
Opioid-related deaths have also now shaved two months off the US life expectancy rate. And CDC figures revealed this month that the rate of people killed by them in 2016 shot up more than 20 percent.
President Trump has now said that the crisis is a ‘national emergency’.
For the study researchers analyzed data from five million opioid prescriptions written between 2009 and 2015.
They found that patients who were given opioid prescriptions in the ER were less likely to use the drugs long-term.
Prescriptions written in the ER were more likely to align with the CDC’s guidelines. In fact, the amount of prescriptions written for high doses of opioids in ER settings decreased from 2009 to 2011.
Study lead author Dr Molly Moore Jeffery said that the study is proof that America’s problem over-prescribing opioids is not the fault of ER doctors.
She explained that this perception exists because people associate ER doctors with patients who have problems with severe pain.
She said: ‘Our paper lays to rest the notion that emergency physicians are handing out opioids like candy.’
Dr Jeffery added: ‘Close adherence to prescribing guidelines may help explain why the progression to long-term opioid use is so much lower in the ER.
‘Most opioid prescriptions written in the emergency department are for shorter duration, written for lower daily doses and less likely to be for long-acting formulations.’
The study’s researchers are calling for more work to be done to figure out how to make doctors outside of ER settings mimic the habits of those in emergency departments.
‘Further research should explore how we can replicate the success of opioid prescribing in emergency departments in other medical settings,’ Dr Jeffery said.
Even though ER departments were better at prescribing opioids safely than other healthcare settings, the study still found that about one-fifth of people discharged from ERs were given a prescription to fill opioids.