Most People Don’t Know Their Prescription Contains Opioids

Do your patients know the difference between hydromorphone and hydrocortisone? Our recent survey shows they may not. 

DrFirst surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults to measure their understanding and use of opioid-containing medications. Survey results showed that American consumers often don’t know when their medications contain opioids, and most people are not taking proper precautions when storing them. 

A Wake Up Call

While 76% of Americans think they know whether they have been prescribed an opioid, only 22% of them could correctly identify seven commonly prescribed opioids. Survey respondents also misidentified many non-opioid medications, with 31% incorrectly citing hydrocortisone as an opioid, for example. In addition, only 23% of patients who have been prescribed opioids store them in a locked cabinet, as recommended by safety experts.  

“American consumers have some significant and dangerous misunderstandings about which medicines contain opioids,” said Colin Banas, M.D., chief medical officer at DrFirst. “This is concerning because patients need to know if they are prescribed an opioid so they can use and store it safely. It should be a wake-up call to physicians and pharmacists, who should not assume their patients know this information,” he added.  

Time for a Change 

The National Institute of Health identifies the misuse of and addiction to opioids as “a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare.” In 2018, according to NIH, 128 people died every day in the United States after overdosing on opioids.  

The mobile iPrescribe app can help physicians change the way they prescribe highly addictive medications. In addition to giving doctors real-time access to patients’ medication histories, it automatically sends a confirmation message alerting the patient if their medicine contains an opioid and includes a link to educational information. 

See the press release for more survey results.