title: Just one opioid prescription?
abstract: It can be said that chronic pain patients comprise a large part of general practice. It would be accepted that general practitioners treat pain to the best of their abilities and, where indicated, use opioids for this purpose. After all, opioids have been used for the treatment of cancer and acute pain for many years. While a growing body of literature documents the trend of acceptance to prescribe opioids for the treatment of chronic noncancer pain, recent evidence suggests opioids may not achieve key outcomes of chronic pain management.
authors.affiliation: Drugs of Dependence Unit, Drug and Alcohol Services SA, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. colin.brown@health.sa.gov.au
authors.forename: Colin Malcolm
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D001315:Australia; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid