With 5 million middle & high school teens in US reporting misuse/abuse of opioids, it is imperative to understand and address the contributing factors. In conversation with Dr. Benjamin Lee MD, MPH, we examine appropriate, effective, pain management, balanced with appropriate risk mitigation when it comes to pediatric pain.

Dr. Lee is a board-certified pediatric anesthesiologist, pediatric pain and palliative care physician. He's the Division Chief of Pain Medicine at Texas Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine. A strong advocate for children's responsible pediatric pain management, he has done extensive work in the area of opioid stewardship.

Takeaways in This Episode

• The informal conversations with colleagues and nurses that marked his research path involving opioid safety.
• Finding from examining prescribing behaviors of clinicians, and what parents did with the leftover medications.
• Common types of prescription errors and what can be done to fix them.
• Scope of opioid prescriptions and the opioid epidemic.
• When it is or isn't appropriate to prescribe opioids for children's pain.
• What opioid stewardship in your clinical practice means.
• Unique challenges related to COVID-19 pandemic around opioid prescriptions and monitoring, role of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), and telemedicine in opioid safety.
• 7 Fundamental actions of an opioid stewardship program.
• Dr. Lee's "take home message" for safe and effective pediatric pain management practices.

Links

Dr. Benjamin Lee MD, MPH

Connect with Dr. Benjamin Lee, MD MPH

National Quality Forum Opioid Stewardship Program Playbook

Opioid Stewardship Fundamentals PDF

Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine

Proactive Pain Solutions