Emergency Medicine Reports – December 15, 2014
December 15, 2014
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Side Effects of Opioids
More than 40% of ED visits are related to pain.1 The Joint Commission has made the assessment and treatment of pain in the ED one of its standards.2 The use of opioid medications has been increasing in both adults and children.3-5 In 2009 there were more than 200 million prescriptions for opioid medications, with enough medication dispensed to supply every adult in the United States with the equivalent of 5 mg of hydrocodone every four hours for one month.