Prescribing just a few opioid tablets to patients discharged from emergency departments can ease pain but prevent misuse

Half of sufferers discharged from the emergency division want solely 5 tablets or fewer of morphine 5mg or an equal opioid ache killer, in line with new analysis offered on the European Emergency Medicine Congress.

The latest disaster in opioid abuse has been partly attributed to over-prescription, notably for chronic pain, and medical doctors have change into cautious about giving these medication to sufferers.

Nevertheless, researchers say it is important that sufferers are given ample remedy to assist them recuperate from pain and damage, and the brand new examine will assist emergency drugs medical doctors to get the stability proper.

The analysis was offered by Professor Raoul Daoust, from the College of Montreal, Canada. He stated, “Opioids equivalent to morphine could be very helpful for sufferers struggling acute ache, for instance once they have injured their neck or damaged a bone.

“Nevertheless, sufferers are sometimes prescribed too many opioid tablets and meaning unused tablets can be found for misuse. Alternatively, because the opioid disaster, the tendency within the US is to not prescribe opioids in any respect, leaving some affected person in agonizing ache.

“With this analysis I wished to supply a tailor-made method to prescribing opioids in order that sufferers have sufficient to handle their ache however nearly no unused tablets accessible for misuse.”

Professor Daoust and his colleagues recruited 2,240 adult patients who have been handled at one in all six hospital emergency departments in Canada for a situation that causes acute ache. All have been discharged with an opioid prescription and have been requested to finish a ache remedy diary for the next two weeks.

Total, half of sufferers took 5 morphine tablets (5mg) or fewer. Nevertheless, the variety of tablets that will be sufficient for many sufferers for 2 weeks diversified significantly in line with the affected person’s painful situation. For instance, sufferers affected by renal colic or abdominal pain wanted solely eight tablets and affected person with damaged bones wanted 24 tablets.

Professor Daoust stated, “We discovered that, on the whole, sufferers eat few opioids, however this varies relying on the kind of painful situation. Our findings make it doable to adapt the amount of opioids we prescribe in line with affected person want. We might ask the pharmacist to additionally present opioids in small parts, equivalent to 5 tablets initially, as a result of for half of sufferers that will be sufficient to final them for 2 weeks.”

The researchers now hope to use their ends in the clinic to judge whether or not they have an effect on long-term use and misuse of opioids.

Professor Youri Yordanov from the St Antoine Hospital emergency department (APHP Paris), France, is Chair of the EUSEM 2023 summary committee and was not concerned within the analysis.

He stated, “It is estimated that tens of millions of individuals all over the world are fighting opioid addiction and greater than 100,000 individuals die of opioid overdose yearly. These medication play an necessary position in emergency drugs, however we have to guarantee they’re prescribed properly.

“This examine exhibits how opioid prescriptions may very well be tailored to particular acute ache circumstances, and the way they may very well be allotted in comparatively small numbers on the pharmacy to decrease the prospect of misuse. This analysis might present a safer technique to prescribe opioids that may very well be utilized in emergency departments wherever on the planet.”

Supplied by
European Society for Emergency Drugs