Opioid prescriptions as pain killers are among current hot topics in Georgia and other states The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has guidelines that show how physicians can prescribe painkillers to deter people who want them for bad reasons (“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” 2017). However, in many hospitals in Georgia, medical staffs still lack policies and guidelines on how these drugs should be specified, including the condition the patients need to meet before they can be allowed to use the drugs. As a result, the states still harbor many cases where doctors prescribe drugs, and patients use them in illegal ways. For instance, in 2017, Georgia providers wrote 70.9 opioid prescriptions for every 100 people (“Georgia Opioid Summary,” 2019).
Death related to opioid prescription has increased from 3.9 deaths per 100,000 persons in 2013 to 5.4 deaths per 100,000 persons in 2017. The extensive physician-patient education about opioids and their health effects can reduce the rate at which people abuse the drugs. Additionally, the development of prescription monitoring programs to detect physician or pharmacy shopping can decrease opioid abuse. In the proposed plan, the physician will hold some conversation with the patients to brief them about the nature and the effects of the opioid. Also, the plan recommends that people should properly use drugs. Besides, the physician will monitor the patients’ interaction with staffs within the hospital to ensure that they receive the required prescriptions (Rutkow et al., 2015). The proposed plan will also include monitoring drug usage when the patients return for more drugs. The action will ensure that the patients know the effects of opioids; hence, use them in the right way.
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I suggest that those in authority should implement the policy using the stage-sequential model. The model has four stages: the conception of the idea, policy formulation, and program implementation and policy evaluation. The model will outline the best protocol which state’s healthcare setting can use while implementing a policy regulates how physicians should prescribe opioids to reduce deaths related to the drug.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017). CDC guideline for prescribing opioids for chronic pain. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services . Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/prescribing/guideline.html
Georgia Opioid Summary. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-summaries-by-state/georgia-opioid-summary
Rutkow, L., Chang, H. Y., Daubresse, M., Webster, D. W., Stuart, E. A., & Alexander, G. C. (2015). Effect of Florida’s prescription drug monitoring program and pill mill laws on opioid prescribing and use. JAMAInnternalMedicine, 175 (10), 1642-1649.
