• Pain Med · Oct 2021

    Veterans' Experiences of an Opioid Specialty Clinic.

    • Timothy Joseph Sowicz and HausmannLeslie R MLRMCenter for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pe.
    • UNC Greensboro, Department of Family and Community Nursing, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
    • Pain Med. 2021 Oct 8; 22 (10): 2242-2251.

    ObjectiveOpioid specialty clinics have emerged as an approach for mitigating the risks associated with opioid therapies. Many opioid specialty clinics within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have been described in the extant literature, yet veterans' experiences of these remain absent. This research study was undertaken to describe veterans' responses (e.g., knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs) toward being evaluated in an opioid specialty clinic.DesignQualitative descriptive research study.SettingA VA medical center in the northeast United States.SubjectsTwenty veterans were interviewed between December 2017 and May 2018.MethodsVeterans' characteristics were extracted from the VA's electronic health record and analyzed with descriptive statistics. Qualitative data about veterans' experiences with the opioid specialty clinic were collected via semistructured interviews (in person or via telephone) and were analyzed with qualitative content analysis.ResultsMost participants were older, non-Hispanic or non-Latino white men. Generally, veterans had positive experiences in the opioid specialty clinic. However, there was wide variation in their understanding of the purpose of the clinic, who staffed the clinic, and why they had been referred to the clinic.ConclusionsFor veterans prescribed opioid therapies, this clinic served as an adjunct service for ensuring appropriate and safe prescribing. Data from this study can be used to inform interventions to promote veterans' understanding across the total opioid safety clinic experience-referral, actual visit, and follow-up.© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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