Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21402971›Full record

ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2011

Survey of Ontario primary care physicians' experiences with opioid prescribing.

Elizabeth Francis Wenghofer, Lynn Wilson, Meldon Kahan, Carolynn Sheehan, Anita Srivastava, Ava Rubin, Joanne Brathwaite

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
38citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
8.8field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 69 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Opioids compared to placebo or other treatments for chronic low-back pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013
    Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
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  10. Article
  11. Needs assessment of primary care physicians in the management of chronic pain in cancer survivors.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2017
    Article
  12. Review
  13. Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2017
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of the Quebec population toward chronic pain: Where are we now?Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2017
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Effective Canadian policy to reduce harms from prescription opioids: learning from past failures.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2016
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Elizabeth Francis WenghoferLaurentian University, School of Rural and Northern Health, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada. ewenghofer@laurentian.ca
Lynn Wilson
Meldon Kahan
Carolynn Sheehan
Anita Srivastava
Ava Rubin
Joanne Brathwaite
Laurentian University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo measure physicians' experiences with opioid-related adverse events and their perceived level of confidence in their opioid prescribing skills and practices.

designMailed survey. Setting The province of Ontario.

participantsA total of 1000 primary care physicians randomly selected from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario registration database.

main outcome measuresOpioid-related adverse events and concerns (eg, number of patients, type of opioid, cause of the event or concern); physicians' confidence, comfort, and satisfaction with opioid prescribing; physicians' opinions on strategies to optimize their prescribing; and physicians' perspectives of their interactions with pharmacists and nurses.

resultsThe response rate was close to 66%, for a total of 658 participants. Almost all respondents reported prescribing opioids for chronic pain in the past 3 months. Eighty-six percent of respondents reported being confident in their prescribing of opioids, but 42% of respondents indicated that at least 1 patient had experienced an adverse event related to opioids in the past year, usually involving oxycodone, and 16.3% of respondents did not know if their patients had experienced any opioid-related adverse events. The most commonly cited factors leading to adverse events were that the patient took more than prescribed, the prescribed dose was too high, or the patient took alcohol or sedating drugs with the opioids. Most physicians had concerns about the opioid use of 1 or more of their patients; concerns included running out of opioids early, minimal access to pain and addiction treatment, and addiction and overdose. The reported number of physicians' patients taking opioids was positively associated with their confidence and comfort levels in opioid prescribing and negatively associated with their belief that many patients become addicted to opioids.

conclusionMost physicians have encountered opioid-related adverse events. Comprehensive strategies are required to promote safe prescribing of opioids, including guidelines and comprehensive office-system materials.

Indexed as

Physician-Nurse RelationsPhysicians, Primary CarePractice Patterns, Physicians'AdultAgedAnalgesics, OpioidAttitude of Health PersonnelChronic DiseaseClinical CompetenceData CollectionDrug PrescriptionsFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedOntarioAnalgesics, Opioid

Identifiers

PMID21402971
PMCPMC3056687
OpenAlexW2098489926

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.