How exactly did we manage to end up with the opioid epidemic, and how do we dig ourselves out?
Dr. Holly L. Geyer, Addiction Medicine Specialist at Mayo Clinic, sits down with us to discuss the opioid epidemic: how we got here, how we approached solutions in the past, and how we’re working on ending the crisis today.
She will cover topics such as:
- This is not our first opioid epidemic
- America’s first opioid-related legislation
- World War II-related opioid use
- A change in mindset during the opioid surge in the ’70s and ’80s
- The famous 1980 article from the New England Journal of Medicine
- The other mechanisms involved with prescribing practices in the ’80s and ’90s
- “Pain as the fifth vital sign” and its detrimental effects in hospitals
- In the ’00s-’10s, providers began to see the error of their ways
- Our first decline in opioid-related prescriptions and the correlating surge in opioid-related deaths
- How our solutions then actually created the epidemic we know today
- What are the costs of the opioid epidemic?
- What are our solutions today?
- What if we are the generation that ends the opioid epidemic for good?
Relevant reading
Mayo Clinic Guide to Self-Care, 7th Edition
Nearly two decades ago, Philip T. Hagen, M.D., had a vision for developing a Mayo Clinic guide for consumers that would empower people to take charge of their health. He called on his colleagues to share their expertise on more than 150 topics. Today, that number has grown to more…
