photo : D . W . Dorken |
Rocco Gerace , MD Registrar
It is the College ’ s view that prescribing opioids under the right conditions is critical for good patient care .
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The College ’ s mandate is public protection . Given the very real evidence that we are in the midst of an opioid overdose crisis , we are stepping up efforts to work with physicians to ensure appropriate , safe prescribing for patients . We believe this can be accomplished , in the majority of matters , by sharing information with individual physicians and ensuring they have the resources they need to safely and appropriately prescribe opioids to patients . One of the tools that exists in Ontario to identify physicians ’ prescribing patterns is the Narcotic Monitoring System ( NMS ). The NMS was developed to identify drug utilization patterns and trends and to detect unusual prescribing activities . The NMS ’ s primary use of this information is to inform |
harm reduction strategies , education initiatives and dispensing practices related to monitored drugs . However , if there is suspected illegal activity or professional misconduct , the Ministry reports to law enforcement or the College as applicable . More recently , the Ministry has been providing information to the College where it appears , based on NMS ’ s analysis of dispensing data , that some physicians are engaging in prescribing patterns that may not be consistent with The Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain and may suggest a possible risk to patients . For example , circumstances where it appears a physician has prescribed daily doses of more than 650 OME / day over extended periods of time to multiple patients may trigger notification to the College . |
Issue 3 , 2016 Dialogue 7 |