title: Opioids for managing patients with chronic pain: community pharmacists' perspectives and concerns.
abstract: Previous studies of pharmacists have suggested poor availability of opioids and apprehension about dispensing these drugs. This pilot study surveyed 52 randomly selected New Jersey community pharmacists (response rate = 69%). Reluctance to stock opioids was attributed to concerns about robbery by 14% and to concerns about federal or state investigation by 17%. No correlation was found between respondents who had a high degree of concern about robbery and those who had incurred previous robbery. Of the 20% of respondents who had incurred a prior federal or state investigation, none expressed more than minimal concern about opioid regulatory issues. Pharmacist confidence in the acceptability of opioids for chronic pain was 75% for malignant pain in patients with no history of opioid abuse and declined to 3% for nonmalignant pain in patients with a history of opioid abuse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Greenwald
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Narcessian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003153:Community Health Services; D006801:Humans; D009294:Narcotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010595:Pharmacists; D010865:Pilot Projects
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics