The Safe Pain Medication Patient Handout

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

The misuse of prescription pain and other medications is a serious health threat. The San Diego County Medical Examiner reported there were more than 1,200 unintentional deaths related to prescription drug misuse between 2008 and 2012 in the region. Approximately 19.5 percent of teens report having misused prescription drugs. Recognizing this emerging threat, the County of San Diego launched the Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force (PDATF) in 2008, a coalition which includes the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, District Attorney, and Sheriff’s Department, the U. S Drug Enforcement Administration, the San Diego County Medical Society, and a variety of other key stakeholders. The goal of the Task Force is to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drugs and address the problem locally. Another key goal was to actively engage the local medical community to review inappropriate access to pain medications. To achieve this goal, the Task Force created the “Safe Pain Medicine Prescribing in Emergency Departments Patient Information Handout.” This simple tool offers important public information to patients regarding prescription medicine safety. The handout has been adopted by all 19 emergency departments in the region and has attracted interest from other jurisdictions, including the State of California.