First, do no harm: Advocating for opioid prescribing guidelines in Canadian emergency departments

Opioid Prescribing Safety Measures Utilized by Primary Healthcare Providers in Canada: A Scoping Review

“…Commentaries reviewed the new 2017 guidelines, outlined limitations, and suggested that inadequate pain management services contributed to overprescribing (Finestone, Juurlink, Power, Gomes, & Pimlott, 2016;Furlan & Williamson, 2017). The editorial identified that EDs lack opioid prescribing guidelines (Moore, Lew, Buttemer, & Kielstra, 2017). Lastly, the letter to the editor explained the role of regulators in safe prescribing practices (Oetter, 2017).…”

“…In two news articles, Silversides (2009aSilversides ( , 2009b interviewed physicians who confirmed that safe prescribing is indeed a major challenge. The editorial by Moore et al (2017) reviewed Canadian guidelines and identified that acute care settings are especially challenging for safe prescribing.…”

“…The final theme, lack of ED guidelines, was discussed in two sources. A commentary by Furlan and Williamson (2017) and an editorial by Moore et al (2017) reported that although Canadian guidelines for opioid prescribing exist, they are not applicable in the ED. ED-specific guidelines would assist in standardizing the care of patients requiring opioids.…”

“…To improve the quality of life for patients and to reduce the strain on PHCPs managing CNCP, it would be beneficial to narrow the research gap in this area. Given that 29% of patients who develop opioid addiction received their first prescription in the ED (Moore et al, 2017), research into the establishment of ED-specific guidelines would also be valuable. Additionally, research is needed regarding safety measures used by other providers because most literature is physician based.…”