A one page guide for patients and caregivers on how to talk to health care providers about prescription opioids. Includes information about medical conditions that increase the risks of opioid painkillers, how to talk with providers about appropriate dose and length of treatment, and asking appropriate questions about Continue reading
Resource Tag: Safe Prescribing
How to Safely Dispose of Leftover Prescription Medication
A one page guide for patients and caregivers on why unused prescription drugs should not be kept in the house and how to safely dispose of leftover medications including opioids. Continue reading
Practice Safety at Home with Opioid Painkillers
This one page document provides advice for patients and caregivers about safe storage and safe disposal of opioid medications and provides cautions on the risk of taking opioids with other medications and of sharing prescription medicines with friends and families. Continue reading
Opioid Advice for Doctors: A Path to Healthier Prescribing
In this 5 minute video, Dr. Don Teater, medical advisor at the National Safety Council, discusses evidence of the effectiveness of opioid medicine for the treatment of pain and the risks of opioid prescribing. Dr. Teater offers advice to health care providers about safe opioid prescribing and alternatives to opioid prescriptions for treating pain. Continue reading
Opioid Advice for Dentists: A Path to Healthier Prescribing
Dr. Don Teater, medical advisor to the National Safety Council, addresses dentists in this video and offers advice on how dentists can reduce inappropriate opioid prescribing while still managing patient’s dental pain. Continue reading
STOP Playbook: How Health Plans Are Tackling the Opioid Crisis
The STOP initiative from AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) is intended to help reduce unsafe opioid prescribing by providing a system to measure adherence to opioid prescribing guidelines using insurance claims data. This report describes other strategies health plans may use to reduce inappropriate and unsafe prescriptions. Continue reading
The STOP Measure: Safe and Transparent Opioid Prescribing to Promote Patient Safety and Reduced Risk of Opioid Misuse
This 2018 report from AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) describes the STOP Measure AHIP developed to use insurance claims data to measure prescriber adherence to prescribing guidelines. The STOP measure is intended to measure adherence to the 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Continue reading
Reevaluating Low Back Pain Care to Help Address the Opioid Epidemic
This report from AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) focuses on treating low back pain with a goal of reducing opioid prescriptions for this condition and improving clinician, patient, and payer understanding of treating pain and alternatives to opioids for chronic low back pain. Continue reading
Substance Use Disorders: Resources
This website provides resources such as toolkits, documents, and education courses for psychiatric pharmacists and advanced practice clinical pharmacists as they seek to further their knowledge and training on this topic. Continue reading
SAMHSA Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit
This 2018 toolkit from SAMHSA offers advice for creating opioid overdose prevention programs in local communities. Specific guidance is provided for first responders, prescribers, and patients and family members. Continue reading