Fellow alumni, I hope this edition finds you enjoying the last days of summer, and for those of us in North America, appreciating the recent total solar eclipse.
This past June, NUHS hosted Homecoming on campus with a wide range of clinical and practice-related topics. For those of us unable to attend this year's festivities (me included), the speakers have graciously made their content available on the school's website. Thanks to all that made this year's Homecoming a success!
These past few months there has been much attention, and rightfully so, given to the opioid epidemic in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every day there are more than 1,000 people treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids and 40 people die every day from prescription opioid-involved overdose.
In 2016, U.S. pharmacists dispensed 66.5 prescriptions per 100 persons, and in some states there were more prescriptions filled then there were residents. This also does not include those that are obtaining opioids without prescriptions or those that are using heroin. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reports that in 2015, close to 13,000 people died due to heroin overdose. Recently the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis is recommending to “declare a national emergency under either the Public Health Service Act or the Stafford Act.”
Of course, during a crisis all responsible parties begin to shift the blame to each other. Local governments are so desperate for help and resources that they are attempting to sue the pharmaceutical companies for downplaying the addictive nature of their products to prescribing physicians; this type of litigation was successful against the tobacco industry in the recent past. Even a CEO of a major health insurance company was quoted as blaming chiropractors for prescribing too many opioids! What if he knew the truth about what chiropractic medicine, naturopathic medicine, or acupuncture could do in regards to pain control.
We, collectively, as a profession have delivered non-pharmaceutical treatment methods for more than 100 years and have now been given a louder voice in the health care debate as all stakeholders are now looking for answers to this brewing epidemic. I am glad that NUHS is involved in educating the public about safe options regarding pain control. Their recent participation at the Midwest Pain Treatment Expo is testament to the ongoing engagement with the community. Their commitment to a curriculum that includes evidenced-based treatment methods from all disciplines is ever more important so that we can serve a public that is in dire need for our help.
As we engage our patients that deal with chronic-pain issues (>3 months), I implore you to educate them about the detrimental effects of prescription opioids and offer them options and hope. I am thankful that I can speak to my patients intelligently about the actions of these medications due to the pharmacology classes I took while attending National. At the time I was perplexed as to why I must suffer through these classes, now I know.
Sincerely,
Darren D. Hancock, DC, DACBSP
Our Role in Pain Control
Dr. Darren
D. Hancock