UPFRONT | Roundup PAIN MANAGEMENT Health minister says feds slapping stronger warning labels on opioids The federal government is putting stronger warning labels on extended-release painkillers like OxyContin in an effort to prevent the abuse of opioids. “Too many people are abusing prescription drugs,” Health Minister Rona Am-brose told the annual confer-ence of the Canadian Medi-cal Association held in August. “Too many people are suffering and dying as a re-sult.” In prepared remarks, Am-brose reminded the confer-ence that Canada is now the second-largest per capita consumer of prescription opioids in the world, behind the United States. As well, she pointed out, a 2012 study suggests that close to a million young Canadians between the ages of 15 and 24 reported using prescription drugs in the previous 12 months. The Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Sur vey also found that 410,000 Canadians said they’d abused prescription drugs like opioid pain reliev-ers, including Demorol and OxyContin; stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall; and tranquilizers and sedatives that include Valium, Ativan and Xanax. “Quite frankly, these numbers are frightening, unacceptable and the reason why our government is tak-ing action,” Ambrose said. The Conservatives’ new initiatives include stronger warnings on opioid labels that emphasize the risks and safety concerns associated with the drugs. The new labels also re-move reference to “moder-ate” pain to clarify opioids should only be used to manage severe pain. Ambrose is also calling for the development of other practical solutions that will prevent opioid abuse while keeping the painkillers available for pa-tients who truly need them. A year ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced safety labelling changes for all extended-re-lease and long-acting opi-oids intended to treat pain. David Juurlink, a medical toxicologist at the Univer-sity of Toronto, said it’s “hard to argue” with label changes, adding OxyContin and related drugs should have been restricted for treating only patients in se-vere pain as soon as they came onto the market. “The change will limit what drug companies can say in advertisements to doctors, but it’s not likely to change how doctors pre-scribe opioids,” he said in an interview. “That horse has bolted.” Ottawa needs to go much further, Juurlink added. “What we really need are federal initiatives to quantify the toll of opioid misuse, to properly educate doctors about the risk/benefit profile of opioids and perhaps even federal support for an inves-tigation into how these drugs were marketed in Canada,” he said. “That’s happening in the United States, and for good reason. Why it’s not happen-ing here, I don’t know.” – Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE New Brunswick rheumatology clinic offers interdisciplinary care A rheumatolog y clinic in Edmundston, New Brunswick, is using interdisciplinary care and telemedicine to cut down on travel for patients living with arthritis in the region. “This new clinic is a good example of how, by working in teams and using technology, we can bring spe-cialized care closer to patients, in the language of their choice, no matter where they live,” said Social Development Minister Madeleine Dubé on behalf of Health Minister Hugh Flemming. The clinic has been operating at the Edmundston Regional Hospital since December, and is a service being offered as part of the www.canadianchiropractor.ca government’s five-year action plan for an equitable distribution of health services. The clinic, which is open two days per week, is serviced by a team of allied health profession-als including a nurse, a physiothera-pist, an occupational therapist and a dietician. Patients wishing to access these services can do so by contact-ing the hospital. With a referral from their family doctor, patients can also meet with a specialist at the clinic. Follow-up appointments with a rheumatolo-gist can be conducted via tele-medicine to reduce travel for pa-tients. A specialized camera is used to provide the rheumatologist with extreme close-ups of skin, tissue and fingernails. “The addition of this clinic to Edmundston Regional Hospital’s service offering is an important component for our patients,” said Gisèle Beaulieu, Northwest Zone chief operating officer for Vitalité Health Network. “This addition is part of the network’s strategic direc-tion as we optimize our approach towards ambulatory and community care.” Patient reviews to date have been positive and a second clinic is now in development for the Chaleur Regional Hospital. “The Arthritis Society wishes to congratulate the provincial govern-ment for investing in the residents of northern New Brunswick,” said Susan Tilley-Russell, executive direc-tor of the Arthritis Society’s Maritime Region. “The clinic will ensure timely access to care for this very important chronic disease and was the focus of our volunteer advocacy committee and advocacy staff in New Brunswick. The five-year action plan for the equitable distribution of health ser-vices consists of a list of new or ex-panded services in all regions of the province that are designed to ad-dress gaps in the health-care sys-tem. It fulfills the provincial govern-ment’s commitment to improve distribution of services to the franco-phone population. Photo: Fotolia October 2014 Canadian Chiropractor 11
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor October 2014: Page 11
