Lynn Webster, MD Publishes the Eight Principles for Safer Opioid Prescribing for the First Time

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah - Aug. 1, 2013 - PRLog -- Lynn Webster, MD has devoted the bulk of his career as a pain researcher and physician to the development of safer and more effective therapies for pain relief in chronic pain patients. One of his most recent contributions to the pain community, the Eight Principles for Safer Opioid Prescribing, was published for the first time in a peer-reviewed journal on July 10^th, 2013. The principles were published in Pain Medicine journal’s President’s Message for their July 2013 issue.

The Eight Principles for Safer Opioid Prescribing are what the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) considers highly specific best practices that physicians should consider to reduce the risk for unintentional deaths if an opioid is prescribed. The principles were created by analyzing the scientific literature on overdose deaths and highlight patterns in opioid addiction that serve as an aid in determining opioid risk in chronic pain patients. As Dr. Webster states in a recent Pain Medicine News article, “These principles are actions physicians and clinicians can implement themselves to have an immediate effect and should prevent many deaths.”

The eight principles can be recalled easily by physicians with the trademarked acronym, RELIABLE, that represents each principle in safer opioid prescribing. It is the hope that with the cooperation of the pain community as a whole, these eight principles will become more widely known and implemented, causing a significant decrease in the number of unintentional deaths due to opioid abuse. To reach this goal, the AAPM is currently developing a plan to promote these eight principles to all AAPM members and asks that they promote them in their communities as well.

If you would like more information on Dr. Webster’s Eight Principles for Safer Opioid Prescribing, you can find a detailed description of the principles in an interview with Dr. Webster by following this link http://www.painmedicinenews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Commentary&d_id=485&i=June+2013&i_id=963&a_id=23360.

About Lynn Webster, MD

Dr. Webster is Medical Director of CRI Lifetree and current president of the Academy of Pain Medicine. He has conducted or participated in over 200 clinical studies over the course of his career as a pain physician and researcher. His research work centers on the development of safer and more effective therapies for chronic pain and addiction prevention. He is best known for developing the widely used Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) and for his public campaign to reduce overdose deaths from prescription medications. You can find a more in depth bio for Dr. Webster by visiting his Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Webster.

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