Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Correlates of self-reported violent ideation against physicians in acute--and chronic-pain patients.
Physicians are at risk for patient-perpetrated violence. This study attempts to identify predictors for violent ideation against medical doctors (VI-MD), in acute-pain patients (APPs) and chronic-pain patients (CPPs). This is the first such study in the literature. ⋯ Being a rehabilitation patient increases the relative risk of affirming VI-MD. This risk is further increased by such variables as chronic pain, Worker's Compensation status, personal injury status, and, most important, litigation. We cannot as yet predict VI-MD affirmation significantly better than base rate prediction. Some variables implicated in this study for VI-MD affirmation relate to the physician-patient interaction and are clinically useful.
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We sought to investigate the association between chronic pain and self-reported prescription drug abuse in a large cohort of patients referred from primary care for a behavioral health assessment. ⋯ We have identified specific variables associated with self-reported prescription drug abuse in primary care patients. Chronic pain is associated both with an indication for prescribing opioids and with abuse of prescription medications. Clinicians are encouraged to follow treatment algorithms when managing patients with chronic pain as a method for reducing misuse.