Academic family medicine physicians' confidence and comfort with opioid analgesic prescribing for patients with chronic nonmalignant pain.

OBJECTIVE: To examine academic family medicine physicians' current practices, experiences, beliefs, level of concern about negative outcomes, and confidence and comfort when prescribing opioid analgesics for chronic nonmalignant pain management.

DESIGN: Electronic cross-sectional survey.

PARTICIPANTS: This study was part of the Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) Educational Research Alliance omnibus survey of active academic US family physicians.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Respondents completed survey items addressing their 1) sociodemographic and practice characteristics, 2) current opioid prescribing practices, 3) experiences and beliefs toward prescribing opioid analgesics for chronic nonmalignant pain management, 4) level of concern about negative opioid-related outcomes, and 5) confidence and comfort when prescribing opioid analgesics.

RESULTS: The majority of the sample (n=491) were male (57.8 percent) with 84.1 percent identifying themselves as non-Hispanic white. Nearly all respondents (91.0 percent) reported currently prescribing opioids to patients with chronic nonmalignant pain. Most respondents reported being confident (88.4 percent) and comfortable (76.2 percent) in their prescribing for patients with chronic nonmalignant pain. Family physicians who were comfortable in their opioid prescribing skills were more likely to report satisfaction in prescribing opioids to patients with chronic pain (ρ=0.494, p<0.001), while those who were confident in their opioid prescribing skills were more likely to identify pain management as high priority (ρ=-0.287, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Most academic family physicians currently prescribed opioid analgesics to patients with chronic nonmalignant pain. There was a strong inverse relationship between confidence regarding opioid prescription and concern about negative consequences. Similarly, comfort level was tied to increased satisfaction with the overall process of opioid prescription.