Successful and Unsuccessful Outcomes with Long-Term Opioid Therapy: A Survey of Physicians' Opinions

Background: The attitudes, beliefs, and experience of physicians will influence how they view the use of opioids for chronic nonterminal pain. Objective: To survey pain specialists and primary care providers (PCPs) to obtain their opinion and attitude on aberrant drug-taking behaviors. Design: We surveyed three physician groups, mailing 250 surveys followed by two followups. The survey consisted of (1) questions about beliefs in the effectiveness of long-term opioid therapy and successful and unsuccessful outcomes and (2) a ratings section for possible indicators of unsuccessful long-term opioid treatment. Results: In total 147 questionnaires (82 PCPs, 65 pain specialists) were returned. Pain specialists reported a greater number of patients undergoing long-term opioid therapy compared to nonpain specialists. Opinion regarding the effectiveness of long-term opioid therapy among all physicians was mixed but there was no significant difference between pain specialists and PCPs. There was agreement among phy...