Did you know?
Approximately 30% of ALL ER visits end with a prescription for a opioid. (Teater, 2015)

Approximately 60% of patients going to the ER with back pain will get an opioid prescription. (Teater, 2015)

Primary care doctors give opioids to about 35% of their patients presenting with back pain.

Pain is the most common reason for people to go to the ER or to their primary care doctor. (Teater, 2015)

One opioid prescription after an injury doubles the risk of being disabled at one year. (Teater, 2015)

The combined deaths among Americans — suicide and unintentional overdose — in 2000 was 41,364 deaths and in 2017 was 110,749 deaths. (Bohnert & Ilgen, 2019)

The good news is there are shared prevention approaches, and we are learning more and more as the silos between those addressing the opioid crisis and those addressing suicide begin to fall away. In this podcast Dr. Don Teater and I explore how opioid use and suicide are connected and what we need to do to find better ways to alleviate pain and suffering.

Teater, D. (2015). Prescription Opioids: The Real Story.
About Dr. Don Teater
Medical Advisor
National Safety Council Don is a family practitioner from Western North Carolina. His practice now concentrates on the treatment of pain and the treatment of opioid use disorder. Don was the lead facilitator for the expert panel discussion during the development of the CDC guidelines for treating pain. He continues to contract with the CDC on educating prescribers on the treatment of acute and chronic pain. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/33