Course Objective
- Define prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP)
- List the measurement issues that arise when studying PDMPs and their effect on prescription opioid and heroin poisoning rates
- Describe the evidence surrounding the effects of PDMPs on rates of nonfatal and fatal prescription opioid and heroin poisoning
Date: December 4, 2018
Presenter:
Silvia Martins MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Magdalena Cerda, DrPH
Associate Professor, Department of Population Health
New York University School of Medicine
David Fink, MPhil, MPH
PhD Candidate, Epidemiology Department
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Participants learn from Dr. Silvia Martins, Dr. Magdalena Cerda and Dr. David Fink about the use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in the United States. First, Dr. David Fink provides an overview in current PDMP practices, explains the inconsistent evidence related to their success in reducing fatal and nonfatal prescription drug poisoning, and explores the unintended consequences of PDMP implementation such as increased heroin poisoning rates. Then, Dr. Cerda categorizes different PDMPs as proactive and reactive, then describes their research of PDMP implementation from 1999 to 2016. Lastly, Dr. Martins explains how proactive PDMPs–which proactively provide unsolicited information to PDMP users, provide open access to law enforcement, and require frequent data reporting–are less likely to be associated with increased in fatal heroin poisonings than reactive PDMPs.
