A national physician survey released by the AMA on February 16, 2016 identified ways to decrease opiate overdoses. The survey had five main findings:

1.  PDMPs are valuable tools: 87 percent of physicians agree that PDMPs help them become more informed about a patient’s prescription history.

2. PDMPs need changes to be more beneficial: Physicians said that PDMPs would be much more helpful if they were improved to integrate with electronic health records, provide real-time data and other key features that would make them even more useful.

3. Physicians want more practice specific continuing medical education (CME): 68 percent of survey respondents said they have taken CME on safe opioid prescribing, and 55 percent have taken CME on managing pain with opioid alternatives.

4. Significant barriers exist to non-pharmacologic and non-opioid treatments

5. Physicians strongly support co-prescribing naloxone: More than 80 percent of physicians said that naloxone should be available to a patient at risk of an overdose via a standing order or collaborative practice agreement with a pharmacist.

”The survey was conducted for the AMA by TNS Global Research between Nov. 13 and 23. The sample size was 2,130 practicing physicians who provide a minimum of 20 hours per week in direct patient care, have a current Drug Enforcement Administration license to prescribe Schedule II controlled substances and prescribe opioids at least on a weekly basis. The sample included all practice settings and regions in the United States.

Source: Physicians identify ways to improve opioid overdose prevention