Education the preferred outcome in opioid prescribing investigations
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When the College investigates a physician, any one of a number of outcomes is possible. But the results of our recent investigations into potentially concerning opioid prescribing practices makes it apparent that the College’ s preferred choice of action is to support education, where possible. At its February meeting, Council received a report that summarized the outcomes in the investigations of 81 of the 84 physicians who had been investigated by the College after it received information from the Narcotics Monitoring System( NMS) about potentially inappropriate opioid prescribing. Of the 84 doctors investigated, the College took no action with 22, provided advice to six and prescribed self-study for two. Forty-four physicians with identified learning needs will participate in education and practise under the guidance of a clinical supervisor, who will oversee completion of the educational plan. In time, physicians will be reassessed to gauge improvement. Three physicians now have prescribing restrictions, three are no longer practising, and one doctor will face a disciplinary hearing. Three investigations are in progress.
“ These outcomes demonstrate that the College will choose a remedial approach in clinical investigations, whenever possible, to help physicians practise to current standards,” said Dr. Steven Bodley, College President.“ Our goal is to keep the physician in practice and to support education and provide guidance, where the physician’ s capacity for remediation is apparent,” he said. Dr. Bodley said it is critical that members of the profession have a clear understanding of the decisions the College has made in these cases and how they line up with our objectives in the opioid strategy.“ We want to facilitate safe and appropriate prescribing, protect patient access to care and reduce risk to both patients and the public. As we have said many times, prescribing opioids under the right circumstances is critical for
ISSUE 1, 2018 DIALOGUE 19