Documenting and improving opioid treatment: the Prescription Opioid Documentation and Surveillance (PODS) System

Pain Med. 2009 Jul-Aug;10(5):866-77. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2009.00652.x. Epub 2009 Jul 6.

Abstract

Objective: To demonstrate that a computer-assisted survey instrument offers an efficient means of patient evaluation when initiating opioid therapy. Design. We report on our experience with the Prescription Opioid Documentation and Surveillance (PODS) System, a medical informatics tool that uses validated questionnaires to collect comprehensive clinical and behavioral information from patients with chronic pain.

Setting and patients: Over a 39-month period, 1,400 patients entered data into PODS using a computer touch screen in a Veterans Administration Pain Clinic.

Measures: Indices of pain intensity, function, mental health status, addiction history, and the potential for prescription opioid abuse were formatted for immediate inclusion into the medical record.

Results: The PODS system offers physicians a tool for systematic evaluation prior to prescribing opioids The system generates an opioid agreement between the patient and physician, and provides medicolegal documentation of the patient's condition.

Conclusions: PODS should improve patient care, refine pain control, and reduce the incidence of opioid abuse. Research to determine how PODS affects clinical care is underway. Specially, the effectiveness and efficiency of providing care utilizing PODS will be evaluated in future studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Analgesics, Opioid / administration & dosage
  • Analgesics, Opioid / therapeutic use*
  • Anxiety / complications
  • Anxiety / psychology
  • Chronic Disease
  • Confidentiality
  • Depression / complications
  • Depression / psychology
  • Documentation / methods*
  • Drug Prescriptions*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Medical History Taking / methods
  • Medical Informatics
  • Middle Aged
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / prevention & control
  • Pain / drug therapy*
  • Pain Clinics
  • Pain Measurement
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Risk Assessment
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United States
  • United States Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Analgesics, Opioid