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Mathematics Faculty Articles
Evaluation of Florida Physicians’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Accessing the State Prescription Drug Monitoring Program as a Prescribing Tool
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2014
Publication Title
Pain Medicine
Keywords
Controlled Substances, Electronic-Florida Online Reporting Controlled Substance Evaluation, Physicians, Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
ISSN
1526-2375
Volume
15
Issue/No.
12
First Page
2013
Last Page
2019
Abstract
Objective The purpose of this study is to assess Florida physicians' attitudes and knowledge toward accessing the state's prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP).
Design Five thousand medical doctors and osteopathic physicians licensed in Florida were randomly selected for a voluntary and anonymous 15-question self-administered survey approved by the Institutional Review Board. Surveys were distributed through U.S. postal service mail. Likert-scale questions were used to assess prior knowledge (1 = none to 5 = excellent) and attitudes toward accessing the PDMP (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree).
Results The study yielded a response rate of 7.8%, 71.5% of whom agreed or strongly agreed that the PDMP is a useful tool. Among participants that have access and answered the PDMP usefulness question, 94.8% agree or strongly agree that it is a useful tool. There were 63 out of 64 physicians (98.4%) who conducted 25 or more searches who agreed or strongly agreed that the PDMP is a useful tool for monitoring patients' controlled substance histories. There were 72.5% of participants with access that answered the “doctor shopping” question who agreed that “doctor shopping” will decrease. Among the 64 most frequent PDMP users, 69.4% agreed or strongly agreed that they have prescribed fewer controlled substances after accessing the PDMP.
Conclusions The study revealed that a majority of participants believe that the PDMP is a useful tool for monitoring patients' controlled substance histories. More continuing education programs should be provided to Florida physicians to enhance their knowledge regarding PDMPs.
NSUWorks Citation
Gershman, Jennifer A.; Gershman, Jason; Fass, Andrea D.; and Popovici, Ioana, "Evaluation of Florida Physicians’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Accessing the State Prescription Drug Monitoring Program as a Prescribing Tool" (2014). Mathematics Faculty Articles. 134.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/math_facarticles/134
DOI
10.1111/pme.12476