Letters notifying physicians of patient overdose deaths and providing a plan for the future is an effective intervention, according to a new study.
Physicians who are notified that a patient has died of a drug overdose are more judicious in issuing controlled substances if the notification includes a plan for what to do during subsequent patient visits, according to a study published today (January 12) in
“Providing physicians a simple plan that will guide them at a patient visit appears to help temper their use of these drugs,” said Jason Doctor, lead author of the study and co-director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the first one found that physicians reduced opioid prescriptions by 10% in the three months following notification of a fatal overdose. A second study found that physicians reduced opioid prescriptions by 7% one year after receiving notification. The letter used in these previous studies served as the control in this study.
“This latest study is part of an evolution toward better understanding how to enact behavior change among physicians whose patients have suffered negative consequences from care by the medical community,” said Doctor, who is also chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.
The latest randomized study involved sending letters to 541 clinicians in Los Angeles County: 284 received a standard letter notifying them that a patient had died of an overdose; 257 received a letter with the additional guidance.
Reference: “A randomized trial looking at planning prompts to reduce opioid prescribing” by Jason N. Doctor, Marcella A. Kelley, Noah J. Goldstein, Jonathan Lucas, Tara Knight and Emily P. Stewart, 12 January 2024, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44573-5
In addition to Doctor, the study’s authors included Emily Stewart, staff at the USC Price School; Marcella A. Kelley of Edwards Lifesciences; Noah J. Goldstein of the