Alleviating pain is one of the oldest duties charged of physicians, but their prescription pads are a source of one of the gravest public health threats facing the United States today.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(8):E647-650. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.647.
A 3-step analgesic ladder was introduced in 1986 and needs change. Surgical interventions could reduce opioid use and motivate expansion of current pain management approaches.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(8):E695-701. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.695.
Pain is the most common reason patients seek health care. The AMA Pain Care Task Force suggests how clinicians can offer good pain care and become savvy about situating themselves in the health care system to do so.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(8):E709-717. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.709.
Driven by toxic, unpredictable, unregulated supply, drug overdose deaths are rampant. Policies that support the war on drugs have to change to be helpful.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(8):E723-728. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.723.