As the voice of Canada’s doctors, the CMA remains concerned about the potential harms of opioids, including dependence, overdose and death. While opioids continue to play an important therapeutic role for legitimate purposes, the prescribing of opioids must be done in a manner that is based on evidence, and includes careful assessment and monitoring.
The CMA has been partnering with other key national organizations on the Pan-Canadian Collaborative on Education for Improved Opioid Prescribing. Together, our aim is to assess and gather evidence-based educational programming for health care professionals and develop proposals to help address gaps in knowledge for the management of pain.
To this end, we’re pleased to share with you the new 2017 Canadian Guidelines for Opioid Therapy and Chronic Non-Cancer Pain. Coordinated by the Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre at McMaster University, these updated guidelines are based on a systematic evaluation of the latest evidence and expert opinion consensus. They’ll be an integral tool in making practice decisions regarding appropriate and effective use of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain management.
The guidelines are accessible on the MAGICapp platform, which presents the guidelines in a new multilayer format and makes it possible to dig as deep into the data as needed to make better informed decisions when considering opioids for patients. It will also include decision aids to be shared with patients.
For more information on the CMA’s work on opioids, please contact [email protected].