What Do The Junior Doctors Know About Pain Management And Opioids Use? : An Australian Study

Background: Pain continues to remain an issue in the general population even though studies have demonstrated that adequate pain management is possible with the use of opioids. This could be related to unwarranted opiophobia among patients and healthcare professionals, which hampers administration of opioids for effective pain relief. The purpose of this study is to investigate the knowledge of Australian junior doctors concerning pain management and opioid use. Methods: A questionnaire study was carried out over a total of 32 medical interns and residents. Statistical analysis was conducted to test for significance of data. Results: Overall, Australian junior doctors were equipped with basic knowledge to effective pain management e.g. that opioids are not exclusive to use in cancer patients (100.0%); analgesics and opioids can be combined in the treatment of pain (96.8%); in the management of pain it is important to differentiate between nociceptive and neuropathic pain (93.8%). Also, 93.8% of respondents agree that they always take a comprehensive pain history, 62.5% find providing good pain control complex and 56.3% find patients’ fear of addiction a barrier to effective use of opioids in practice. More than half of the junior doctors expressed interest in additional education related to pain management and the most popular subject indicated was opioid rotation (86.4%). Conclusion: Although basic knowledge amongst junior doctors was sufficient, there are several key areas that could be improved on. These include combination of opioid drugs in pain management, opioid rotation, dosage calculation and the fear to start opioid administration. A properly designed education plan should have been developed by the teaching hospitals to ensure a systematic transfer of pain management knowledge to junior doctors.