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Analysis of opioid prescription practices finds areas of concern – 2
Narrator: This is NIH Health Matters. I’m Joe Balintfy. Analysis of national prescribing patterns shows that more than half of patients who received an opioid prescription in 2009 had filled another opioid prescription within the previous 30 days. Dr. Susan Weiss at the National Institute on Drug Abuse says the prescriptions could all be perfectly legitimate.
Weiss: But it certainly raised questions for us and in particular it made us think that physicians should be asking their patients, “Do you already have a prescription that’s sitting at home that you haven’t finished using?” Before giving them another prescription for it.
Narrator: Most of the prescriptions were for products like Vicodin and Oxycontin which treat pain. For details, visit www.nida.nih.gov. Health Matters is produced by the National Institutes of Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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