Rates of overdose deaths involving prescription drugs increased rapidly in the United States during 1999-2006. However, such mortality data do not portray the morbidity associated with prescription drug overdoses. Data from emergency department (ED) visits can represent this morbidity and can be accessed more quickly than mortality data. To better understand recent national trends in drug-relat...

Recent reports suggest that many healthcare practitioners express concern about prescribing controlled substances, including opioid analgesics, to patients with chronic pain, especially chronic noncancer pain.[1-4] Two of the primary causes of such concern are the reluctance to contribute to drug abuse, addiction, and diversion,[5-7] and the possibility of being investigated or disciplined by a...

The crisis of opioid addiction in America has been fueled by the diversion of prescription pain pills and the emergence of pure and inexpensive heroin. Until recently, benefits of and access to therapy were limited. This situation changed in 2003 with Food and Drug Administration approval of buprenorphine for the office-based treatment of opioid dependence. Now armed with a potent drug, primary...

The opioid epidemic is the most significant modern-day, public health crisis. Physicians and lawmakers have developed methods and practices to curb opioid use. This article describes one method, prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP), through the lens of how to optimize use for emergency departments (ED). EDs have rapidly become a central location to combat opioid abuse and drug diversion...

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study compares illegal drug and alcohol use behaviors between medical and nonmedical users of prescription opioids (PO) and nonmedical users with distinct motives to use. METHOD An ethically approved cross-sectional study (2010) was conducted on a representative sample of private university students (n = 570), using a self-filled anonymous questionnaire. RESULTS About 2...

PURPOSE The current epidemic of prescription opioid abuse and misuse in the United States is discussed, with an emphasis on the pharmacist's role in ensuring safe and effective opioid use. SUMMARY U.S. sales of prescription opioids increased fourfold from 1999 to 2010, with an alarming rise in deaths and emergency department visits associated with the use of fentanyl, hydrocodone, oxycodone, ...

rational prescribing increases the quality of health care and patient outcomes. in this study, the quality of drug prescription in specialist physicians in isfahan province of iran was assessed for evaluating the rational use of drugs and improving the therapeutic outcomes.this retrospective survey was conducted on a total of 7999530 prescriptions from all general and specialist physicians. the...

background: restless and violent behaviors are common in emergency departments (eds), which need therapeutic interventions in most of the times. the first-generation anti-psychotic drugs are one of the most applicable therapeutic agents in the management of such patients, but their use has some limitations. some studies suggest midazolam as an alternative medicine. therefore, this study was per...