Safe Opioids

Opioid analgesics are prescribed frequently for the treatment of pain. While these medications can be an essential part of effective medical care, there are also increasing reports of adverse effects, addiction, and deaths associated with opioid therapies.

This app brings together information currently available to clinicians, but which can be difficult to locate in a search or require a clinician to do multiple searches to find information that could be helpful in safe and effective use of these medications.

This app includes:

+Information on the assessment of pain including universal precautions to be used for patients receiving opioids

+Information on opioid management including links to medical guidelines on clinical use in treatment of chronic pain (e.g.: VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines)

+An example of a treatment agreement

+A discussion of opioid side effects

+Several clinical tools for assessing level of pain, depression, and risk of opioid abuse are provided

+Examples for ongoing clinical assessments of pain are included

+Links to guidelines for treatment of specific pain conditions

+Contact information for organizations that may be able to provide further information or assistance

This app was developed with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration through the Prescribers Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies.