NPS MedicineWise Choosing Wisely Australia has released a new patient guide to managing pain and opioid medicines in an effort to help reduce the number of Australians experiencing harm from pharmaceutical opioids.
NPS MedicineWise CEO, Adj A/Prof Steve Morris, said, "With statistics showing three lives are lost, 150 people are hospitalised and 14 people present to emergency departments every day due to harm caused by pharmaceutical opioids, we need to ensure more information is available to people at the point these medicines are prescribed.
"Ultimately, we hope to see this practical guide provided to everyone in Australia who is prescribed an opioid medicine," Morris said.
Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) Chief Executive, Kristin Michaels, says many Australians leave hospital with more opioids than they need, which has the potential to lead to preventable harm.
"SHPA's landmark 2018 Reducing opioid-related harm report revealed opioid de-escalation plans at hospital discharge are rare and supplying opioids for patients to take home 'just in case' is still common practice," she said.
Earlier this week the Therapeutic Goods Administration also placed a consumer summary on the subject (PD 20 Nov) - tga.gov.au.
The new NPS opioids resource, Opioid medicines and chronic non-cancer pain (nps.org.au) has been released to coincide with a new NPS MedicineWise national education program, Opioids, chronic pain and the bigger picture, which helps health professionals and consumers reduce harm from opioids, while ensuring adequate pain control for people with chronic non-cancer pain - visit nps.org.au.
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