Earlier this week, an advisory panel recommended that the Food and Drug Administration require doctors who prescribe painkillers s to undergo training aimed at reducing misuse and abuse of the medications. The New York Times notes:
It is the second time since 2010 that an F.D.A. panel has recommended expanding safety measures for painkillers. But the training plans instituted about four years ago are voluntary, and data shows that under half of the doctors targeted by the effort have completed the training.
Despite the rising opioid-related death rate since the initial FDA panel’s initial recommendation in 2010, the panel strongly recommended training physicians. Given the amount of training we all underwent in preparation for US cases during the most recent Ebola epidemic, the physician training for this pandemic, far more deadly on our shores, seems both feasible and urgent.
Marion R. Sills, MD, MPH 