Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

The research explored the healthcare system and its duty to lead the effort to decrease overprescribing opioids. This research-initiated review surveys of endorsing among doctors utilizing electronic medical records (EMR) to assemble information on endorsing recurrence and in general opioid volume. The information described is possible through an assisted multiple level operation to decrease over endorsing opioids. In 2017 the study showed a considerable decrease of 58% in prescribing opioids. In all, the study concluded the effective process to influence prescribing physicians’ behavior was linking to warnings and approving limitations. This article was composed by four authors, all who have obtained their Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree. It is available on JAMA NETWORK which is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal. This source will be especially useful in my research essay because it provides a significant amount of background research on the health system intervention to reduce opioid overprescribing. The article contains important statistics that would help show credibility. I will use most of the information to show how healthcare system strategies are used to manage the flow of physicians prescribing opioids.

Reidenberg MM, and Willis O. “Prosecution of Physicians for Prescribing Opioids to Patients.” Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, vol. 81, no. 6, 2007.

This article is addressing a matter concerning how physicians were prosecuted for prescribing inadequate opioids to patients. It is relevant to my paper because it shows the prosecution process for doctors who prescribe opioids. Reidenberg highlights the legal dangers associated with prescribing opioids when Federal or State governments believe that such prescribing is outside the course of clinical practice. In one audit by the medical board, there were 32 cases in which the allegation was centered around verification of opioid prescriptions written outside the bounds of proper medical practice. Although 5 doctors were indicted for murder, none were found guilty of murder. The other emphasis was that there is a small possibility a physician will be disciplined by either the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or a state medical board for a patient in pain with sufficient medical documentation. This article is peer-reviewed and composed by an author who has obtained his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree. I will use this article to support evidence in my essay on how doctors receive minimum or no prosecution for overprescribing opioids.

Friedman, Richard., “Editorial: Doctors’ Role in Curbing Opioids.” Valley News, 15 Nov 2015.

This article is addressing the issue of doctors being responsible for the opioid crisis. It explains how. The author notes that opioid analgesics were traditionally used for treating terminal diseases like cancer. However, the long-term use of opioid painkillers used especially for back pain and other musculoskeletal problems increased during the early 1990s. The author suggests that we should start from the beginning by educating medical students about the limited benefits and risks in opioid treatment. Also, all medical professional organizations should make this a mandatory prerequisite for individuals licenses and prescribing. Richard A. Friedman is the author of this article. Cornwell is the director of the psychopharmacology clinic and a professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. This article will be useful for my assignment as it presents a detailed overview of the role of doctors who write opioids. In my paper, I will discuss the use of opioids and how often doctors are responsible for the opioid epidemic.

Nguyen T.D., Bradford W.D., and Simon K. “Pharmaceutical payments to physicians may increase prescribing for opioids.” Addiction, 2019.

The article informs us how pharmaceutical companies play a role in assisting doctors to prescribe their drugs. Pharmaceutical companies used strategies to sell their drugs so they wouldn’t be implicated in trying to get the doctors to buy them. So, doctors often talked about drugs during speaking engagements or conferences. They also sent sales representatives to doctor’s offices to promote their drugs. In this observational study led by Dr. Thuy Nguyen of Indiana University School of Public and Environmental reviewed the prescribing practices of over 63,000 doctors who in return received opioid-related payments. Dr. Nguyen compared it to over 800,000 who received no payment. This study revealed a correlation between drug-related payments to physicians and higher payments. The payments to physicians and higher payments were increasing. This study is relevant to my essay because it will show the complete process of how pharmaceutical companies introduce opioid prescriptions in medical practice. I will use this information to show one of the factors that influence doctors prescribing behaviors.

Augenstein, Seth. “Doctors from Lowest-Ranked Medical Schools Prescribe Most Opioids.” Laboratory Equipment, 2017.

In this article, Augenstein reveals to us that doctors trained at U.S. medical colleges classified as low ranking were shown to prescribe more opioid prescriptions than doctors who were trained at classified high ranking schools. The study completed by using a variety of databases showed that from 2006 to 2014 nearly two billion opioid prescriptions were written in the United States. The researchers wanted to identify whether each physician wrote any opioid prescriptions over the course of a year, and if so, how many. Two evaluations were run: one for all physicians in the database, and one only for general practitioners, who prescribe about half of the nation’s opioid prescriptions. Geographic data allowed the study to identify where the physicians practiced. The report concluded that doctors who had training at the highest-ranked schools were low. The differences were most noticeable among the general practitioners. Further evidence concluded more education and training on opioids may be a useful means to fight the overprescribing of opioids. I selected this article to support my writing on the required education to write opioid prescriptions. I will use the research findings to show the relationship between medical school rank and prescribing opioids.