PAIN MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES PDF PROFESSIONAL

4 The 12-page document highlights many problem areas, including that much of the supporting text of the proposed guideline is not balanced, is missing key studies, and focuses heavily on the risks of opioids, while less attention is focused on the potential benefits of opioids, or the risk of not taking opioids or undertreating pain. While the CDC has not yet released the updated draft guideline to the public, the Opioid Workgroup has released its observations, expressing deep concerns with the proposed updates. 3 This workgroup, made up of 23 clinicians and subject matter experts in the areas of pain medicine, primary care, public health, pharmacy, emergency medicine, and more have now had a chance to review the CDCвЂ™s proposed updates to the guideline вЂ“ and they are not pleased. In preparation for making updates to the highly contested CDC guideline, and in response to the significant number of reports of guideline misapplication after its initial release, an Opioid Workgroup was established in December 2019 by the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (which is responsible for advising the CDC on certain matters) to review an early draft of the updated guideline and offer findings and observations. (Image: iStock) Opioid Workgroup and Advocates Warn CDC Guideline Updates are Insufficient While the CDC has not yet released its updated draft guideline on prescribing opioids for chronic pain, the Opioid Workgroup has released its observations, expressing deep concerns with the proposed changes. 2 Countless states legislatures and licensing boards have adopted portions of the guideline as law, as opposed to recommendations, and have typically done so in ways that ignore the nuance and flexibility of the underlying guideline in favor of strict dosage ceilings and duration limits never intended by the CDC.

In the years since, these fears have often proven to be valid.

PAIN MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES PDF PROFESSIONAL

Even before it was released five years ago, the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain 1 was at the center of controversy, with pain advocates and practitioners fearing that the recommendations would be misconstrued by policymakers as black and white rules with no room for individualized care and professional judgment.

Pain management guidelines pdf