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Updated: Aug 27, 2025

Author Spotlight: Methodologies and Advancements of Chronic Pain Management Research
Published on: January 5, 2024
Diagnosing and managing patients with chronic pain who develop prescription opioid use disorder: A scoping review of
Hester Wilson1, Ben Harris-Roxas2, Nicholas Lintzeris3
1BMed (Hons) FRACGP, FAChAM, MMH, General Practitioner, Alice St General Practice, Newtown, NSW; Staff Specialist in Addiction, Drug and Alcohol Services, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Caringbah, NSW; Conjoint Lecturer, School of Population Health, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW; Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity (CPHCE), University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW.
Background And Objectives:
Prescription opioid use disorder (pOUD) is an important sequela of long-term prescribed opioids for chronic pain. General practitioners (GPs) may not systematically diagnose or manage this; however, it is unclear why.
Method:
This scoping review searched multiple databases to assess GPs' experience diagnosing and managing patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain who have developed pOUD.
Results:
The 19 included articles report high levels of GP concern regarding opioid diversion, inappropriate use, abuse, misuse, diversion, dependence and addiction. Confidence screening and detecting pOUD is mixed, and few screen systematically. The most common response is declining to prescribe rather than diagnosing and managing pOUD.
Discussion:
GPs experience high levels of conflict when considering potential pOUD in their patients with chronic pain prescribed opioids. Their experiences diagnosing and managing pOUD are not fully understood. Further theory-based research may help to understand this and assist future policy directions, programs and research priorities.
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