How, why, and for whom do emergency medicine providers use prescription drug monitoring programs?

Objective: The prescription opioid epidemic is currently responsible for the greatest number of unintentional deaths in the United States. One potential strategy for decreasing this epidemic is implementation of state-based Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), which are designed for providers to identify patients who "doctor shop" for prescriptions. Emergency medicine physicians are some of the most frequent PDMP users and opioid prescribers, but little is known about how they actually use PDMPs, for which patients, and for what reasons.

How do physicians adopt and apply opioid prescription guidelines in the emergency department? A qualitative study.

Study Objective: An increase in prescriptions for opioid pain medications has coincided with increasing opioid overdose deaths. Guidelines designed to optimize opioid prescriptions written in the emergency department have been implemented, with substantial controversy. Little is known about how physicians perceive and apply these guidelines.