Share this:
Drug overdoses from opioids have been linked to a decreased life span, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ongoing opioid crisis has been a complicated one for more than a decade. Death rates continue to rise, despite national medical guidelines for prescribing the pain medication.
Dr. Holly Geyer leads the opioid stewardship program at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. She says there is an important role for opioids in patient care, and the onus is on health care professionals to educate their patients.
Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:07) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.
"The opioid crisis has stemmed out of dysregulation of the opioids themselves and along these illicit channels that have now worked their way through our country," says Dr. Geyer.
Dr. Geyer is an addiction medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic and author of a new book, "Ending the Crisis: Mayo Clinic's Guide to Opioid Addiction and Safe Opioid Use."
She says, "The reality is that, as we continue to deprescribe opioids, those struggling with the complications already had to find new sources, and they found it from the streets."
Opioids, like pharmaceutical fentanyl and oxycodone, are typically prescribed short term and for acute pain.
"Chronic use of opioids leads to more problems in the majority of people than it does benefits. And that's the point of using any drug — to have more benefits than problems," Dr. Geyer says.
But it doesn't mean all opioids should be avoided all the time.
"There is absolutely a role for opioids in our world," says Dr. Geyer.
The goal, she says, is to make sure every patient who receives a prescription for opioids is provided education.
"Every patient who walks into our office should be familiar with how to use opioids safely, when they're appropriate, how to store them, how to dispose of them, and what to look for along the course of their use," says Dr. Geyer.
"If that's not happening, we're creating statistics."
Related posts:
- Mayo Clinic Minute: Limiting opioids for postoperative pain management.
- Stay safe if you exercise while taking opioids.
- Science Saturday: Transforming the practice of opioid prescribing — for kids.
Additional content:
For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where other safety protocols were followed.
Related Articles
