Natalie Moryl, Alison Wiesenthal and Paul Glare
Weill Cornell Medical College, USA
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care
Most victims of drug overdoses are non-patients, with 75% of overdoses attributed to opioids prescribed to someone else. Numerous interventions foster safe prescribing and close monitoring of risks and benefits. Percentage of "left over" opioids is not known. Non-adherence in the USA causes 30%-50% of treatment failures and 125,000 deaths annually. In case of opioids, non-compliance may lead to accumulation of potentially dangerous medications and causes 15,000 deaths annually, majority among non-patients. The aim of this exploratory study was to estimate the amount of unused opioids prescribed for cancer pain at a cancer center. At each clinical encounter in one palliative medicine clinic over a 3 month period, we documented consecutive patients� self-reports of analgesia and number of tablets taken. The amount dispensed was obtained from the State�s Prescription Monitoring Program and was compared to the patients� report of use. Among patients reporting adequate analgesia, 61% reported NOT using all of their short-acting opioids. Among patients reporting suboptimal analgesia, 57% reported NOT using the entirety of that month�s dispensed opioids. The number of unused tablets left per month ranged from 90 to 333 tablets of short-acting opioids. Fear of side effects (i.e. somnolence, constipation) was cited as the main reason for underuse. These preliminary data highlight the importance of reconciling the number of opioids taken by cancer patients with the amount prescribed and adjust the next prescription accordingly. This is a simple way a nurse may decrease risk of opioid abuse and minimize diversion.
Email:
Moryln@MSKCC.ORGJournal of Nursing & Care received 4230 citations as per Google Scholar report
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