Safe Opioid Prescribing for Nurse Practitioners

In a recent survey, 400 Nurse Practitioners (NP) 50% indicated that their education did not adequately prepare them to treat patients with chronic pain. These nurse practitioners indicated that they often feel ill-equipped to prescribe opioids to patients. As suggested by the aforementioned statistic, fear of regulatory oversight and fear of potential addiction in patients often prevents nurse practitioners from prescribing opioids to those patients who could benefit from them. Although addiction is a real concern for practitioners prescribing opioids (the rate of addiction in primary care patients on long-term opioids ranges from <1% to 3.87% (Flemming et al, 2007)), practitioner fear tends to disproportionally influence the amounts of opioids that are prescribed. When faced with treating a patient suffering from a chronic condition, understanding safe prescribing guidelines can provide the practitioner with the both accurate information the and confidence necessary to treat pain patients safely and effectively. Part of the Oxford American Pocket Notes series, this ultra concise pocket guide provides helpful information for prescribers in an easy-to-tab format. The introduction addresses practitioners' specific considerations while subsequent sections provide information on selecting and screening patients for opioid therapy. Moreover, the volume includes a special section on opioid prescription for patients who have a history of substance abuse. The author provides examples of patient opioid agreements, an algorithm for treating chronic pain with long-term opioids and information on interpretation of urine screening results. Authored by two highly experienced nurse practitioners on the frontlines of patient care, this volume uses the most up-to-date information available in order to function as a clinically focused tool for safe opioid prescribing.