The future of pain pharmacy: driven by need

摘要

BackgroundOpioid prescribing has increased by ~400% over the past 20 years in the US and has been correlated with dramatic increases in accidental overdose-related deaths. Emerging evidence of serious dose-dependent side effects of opioid analgesics has led to recommendations from multinational pain societies and governments to decrease opioid doses and increase referrals to pain specialists. Demand for pain specialists of all types has increased; however, training programs for health care professionals struggle to satisfy this need.