Dr. Martin Fried recently teamed up with a interdepartmental research group including faculty from Division of Bioethics, Moritz College of Law and CATALYST to conduct a study investigating the use of Opioid Treatment Agreements (OTA) in the long term management of patients on opioid medications for pain.
The focus group study explored how clinicians use OTAs, their perception of these documents, and how using OTAs impacted their prescribing behavior and their relationships with their patients. It concludes that more provider education is necessary and OTAs can support pain management by facilitating clinician-patient conversations about the expectations for patients on LTOT.
More information about the study can be found online in "Clinician Perspectives on Opioid Treatment Agreements: A Qualitative Analysis of Focus Groups," an open access article published in the American Journal of Bioethics – Empirical Bioethics.