Preventing medication overdoses is a pivotal responsibility for clinicians, who are uniquely positioned to educate their patients about the risks associated with improper medication use. The risks of opioid use are clear, and many clinical guidelines now focus on the risks associated with their use and the potential for misuse.
Clinicians who actively discuss safe dosing, warning signs of toxicity, and strategies to reduce accidental overdose help prepare patients and allow them to be proactive in their own care. Such discussions allow clinicians to identify the patients who are at a heightened risk, such as those who have previously overdosed or who have coexisting mental health conditions.
Clinical guidelines offer structured, evidence-based frameworks for these discussions, ensuring consistent and comprehensive care that aligns with agreed-upon best practices in overdose prevention.
The following rundown highlights some of the many key clinical guidelines about opioid prescribing across a range of therapeutic indications.
Clinical Guidelines Related to Opioid Management
Opioid Conversion in Adults with Cancer
- American Society of Clinical Oncology, March 2025
- Full Text
Critical Issues Related to Opioids in Adult Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department
- American College of Emergency Physicians, December 2024
- Full Text
Opioid Prescribing for Acute Pain Management in Children and Adolescents in Outpatients Settings
- American Academy of Pediatrics, September 2024
- Full Text
Use of Opioids for Adults with Pain from Cancer or Cancer Treatment
- American Society of Clinical Oncology, December 2022
- Full Text
Prescribing Opioids for Pain – United States 2022
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 2022
- Full Text
Postoperative Opioid Prescribing After Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery
- American Urogynecologic Society, November 2021
- Full Text
Opioid Prescribing for Analgesia After Common Otolaryngology Operations
- American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, April 2021
- Full Text
Guidelines for Opioid Prescribing in Children and Adolescents After Surgery
- Consensus and Physician Experts, November 2011
- Full Text
Opioids in Total Joint Arthroplasty
- American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, March 2020
- Full Text
Opioid Use in Gynecologic Oncology in the Age of the Opioid Epidemic (& part 2)
Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain – United States 2016
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 2016
- Full Text
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