01/29/2016

Acute Care Prescriber Guidelines Released

New resource provides guidance on treatment of acute pain outside the emergency department

On Tuesday, January 19, the State of Ohio released a new set of guidelines for prescribing opioids for treatment of acute pain outside of an emergency department setting. The new guidelines are the third set of recommendations released by the Governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team (GCOAT) and are designed to complement the other two documents, which are geared toward treatment of acute pain in an emergency department and treatment of chronic, non-lethal pain, respectively.

Ohio ACEP was one of the first medical specialties at the table when the state began to confront its prescription opioid abuse epidemic. Working with GCOAT, Ohio ACEP was instrumental in developing the Ohio Emergency and Acute Care Facility Opioids and Other Controlled Substances (OOCS) Prescribing Guidelines. But, when appropriate, Ohio ACEP has also opposed measures that would substitute the clinical judgment of emergency physicians in favor of arbitrary prescribing restrictions.

All three sets of guidelines, along with additional information and resources, can be found at opioidprescribing.ohio.gov.