Opiophobia as a Barrier to the Treatment of Pain

Abstract

An international panel of pain specialists including physicians and health policy scholars met to discuss the impact of fear of opioids on the clinical use of these strong analgesics. Recognizing potential risk from opioids, the panel members concluded that irrational fear of the drugs often impedes their appropriate use. The need for education among clinicians was recognized and the panel concluded that while progress has been made, much remains to be done to correct unfounded fears and misconceptions that impede provision of opioid analgesia when it is indicated.

Psychiatric Comorbidity in Chronic Disabling Occupational Spinal Disorders Has Minimal Impact on Functional Restoration Socioeconomic Outcomes

“…58 -60 Some experts have criticized pain clinicians for having "opiophobia" or unnecessary fear of prescribing opioids. 61 In light of the findings from the current study and the Dersh et al study, this "opiophobia" appears quite reasonable. The conceptual link between OPI-DEP and poorer work outcomes is not entirely clear.…”

The EVMS Pain Education Initiative: A Multifaceted Approach to Resident Education

“…17 It is well established that pain is often inadequately treated, and studies have pointed to possible causes such as lack of training in pain management among physicians or socioeconomic disparities among patients. 3,12,13,19,21 These findings are indicative of a need for novel approaches to the education and evaluation of medical students and resident physicians in this area. 4 Many previous studies suggest that teaching efforts should be directed toward improving physicians' comfort, skills, and attitudes toward chronic pain management.…”

Time to Onset of Sustained Postoperative Pain Relief (SuPPR)

“…Indeed, we commonly observe in clinical practice that the first several pain assessment-treatment-evaluation cycles often require a co-adaptation between the patient and the healthcare delivery system to identify which analgesic strategies optimally provide sustained, successful pain management. 20,21 Rather than rewarding healthcare delivery systems for offering a non-selective “kitchen sink” approach to postoperative pain management principally predicated on high-dose opioid analgesia, which can lead to substantial increases in patient safety events with insignificant decreases in pain intensity across the hospital population, it may be advantageous to encourage expedited assessment-treatment-evaluation cycles to hasten the co-adaptation and personalization of analgesic strategies to individual patients. The time to SuPPR thus partially considers the adaptability of the healthcare system to an individual patient’s needs in requiring a sustained improvement, rather than a linear trend that may feature a decreasing overall trend in pain intensity yet still permit repeated episodes of severe pain.…”