Emergency Room Physicians Look For Solutions to Curb Opioid Overdoses

Emergency room physicians are often blamed for the rising number of opioid overdoses in the U.S. because they are generally the first to prescribe opioids to patients seeking pain relief. A 2016 article in the Annals of Emergency Medicine sought to address the issue and provide solutions and alternatives for patients.

Dr. Scott D. Weiner, an emergency physician at the Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MITRE Corporation researcher Jaya Tripathi, MS analyzed Indiana’s prescription drug monitoring database (PDMP) database and found several key predictors for an overdose. They used their findings to develop a tool for emergency doctors that makes quick calculations to assess a patient’s risk for overdose. The tool will be tested at Dr. Weiner’s hospital to determine whether it increases the use of PDMPs in hospitals, and provides quick patient opioid overdose risk assessments.

Learn more in this article from ER News and Topics of Physicians.