부산대학교 도서관

Objective: Although opioid analgesics are effective in the treatment of moderate to severe acute, cancer and chronic non-malignant pains, they are under-prescribed in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to assess the prescription pattern of opioids among physicians in a north central State, Nigeria.. Design: This was a descriptive cross sectional study Setting: The study was conducted at the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)-sponsored workshops on pain and palliative care at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. Participants: These were physicians at the monthly workshops organized by the Pain and Palliative Care Unit of the hospital between August 2011 and July, 2012. Interventions: Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires were used to obtain responses to questions on pain management including opioids utilization in the various hospitals of the 114 participants. Main outcome measures: The main outcome measure was opioid prescription by the participants. Results: Out of the 114 questionnaires distributed, 113 were returned with complete information giving a response rate of 99.1%. The mean age of the respondents was 42.0±10.8 years. Although 97.3% of the respondents reported that pain was a frequent complaint in their practice, 69.5% of those who reported seeing patients with moderate to severe pain on a daily basis rarely or never prescribed opioid analgesics. The reasons given for poor opioid prescription were fear of respiratory depression (86.8%), fear of addiction (85.1%) and non-availability (28.9%). Conclusion: Opioid prescription rate for patients with moderate-severe pain is low possibly due to myths and misconceptions about their adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]