Opioid-Related Risk Screening Measures for the Emergency Care Setting

Area of Science:

• Medical Research
• Public Health
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Opioid prescriptions are frequently initiated in emergency departments (EDs) for acute pain management.
• Effective screening for opioid use disorder (OUD) by emergency care providers is crucial for minimizing adverse outcomes.
• Validated screening measures are lacking for the specific context of emergency care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and describe available opioid-related screening measures.
• To categorize identified measures by their intended purpose and clinical setting.
• To assess the suitability and application of existing screening tools in emergency departments.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a systematic literature review to identify opioid-related screening measures.
• Analyzed 44 articles and identified 15 distinct screening measures.
• Categorized measures based on their development intent (current vs. future misuse) and applied setting.

Main Results:

• Identified 15 screening measures, with nine targeting current opioid misuse and five for future misuse risk.
• No measures were specifically developed for use outside of chronic pain management settings.
• A significant discrepancy was observed between the intended purpose of measures and their actual application.

Conclusions:

• The screening of patients for adverse opioid outcomes in the ED is significantly limited by the absence of validated instruments.
• There is a critical need for the development of clarified conceptual models for OUD screening.
• ED-specific research is essential to create and validate appropriate screening tools to mitigate OUD.