Implementing Evidence-Based Opioid Prescription Practices in a Primary Care Setting

The use and misuse of opioid pain medication has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Evidence-based interventions identified as best practices by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were implemented in an internal medicine practice. In this evidence based practice project, implementation of the guidelines led to a 10% reduction in the number of opioid prescriptions written and to 7% of patients referred to pain management for treatment. A screening tool was helpful to determine which patients were referred to pain management.