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Physician Tools for Treating Patients with Pain

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Opioid Analgesic Agents Used in the Treatment of Pain

Opioid Risk Tool (ORT)

This brief, easy-to-use screening tool, which is administered during the initial clinical visit, enables the physician to determine a patient’s potential risk for developing aberrant behaviors when prescribed opioids for chronic pain. The ORT can either be self-administered or completed by the physician as part of the patient interview.

Download Opioid Risk Tool Overview

Download Self-Administered Patient Form

Download Physician Interview Form

Opioid Analgesic Agents Used in the Treatment of Pain

Pain Thermometer Scale

This pain assessment tool facilitates the communication of pain severity especially in older patients and those with diminished cognitive capacity and difficulty with abstract thinking. The original tool, or the newer modified Iowa Pain Thermometer Scale version, can be used to assess pain intensity as well as to determine the effectiveness of pain treatments.

Download Pain Thermometer Scale Overview

Download Original Scale

Download Modified Scale

Opioid Analgesic Agents Used in the Treatment of Pain

Patient Reassessment Opioid Analgesic 4-A’s+
Chart Note

The 4-A's+ Chart Note is a brief, easy-to-use tool for assessing patients taking opioids. Based on the 4-A’s outcomes measurement model of analgesia, activities of daily living, adverse events, and aberrant drug-taking behaviors, the Chart Note expands the original model by adding the two categories of assessment and action plan. It offers physicians a routine tool for easily documenting a patient’s progress during opioid therapy.

Download 4-A’s+ Chart Note Overview

Download Chart Note Tool

Opioid Analgesic Agents Used in the Treatment of Pain

Informed Consent for Using Opioids To Treat Pain Video

In this short, 12-minute patient-focused video, Michael M. Moskowitz, MD, MPH, discusses the benefits and risks of using opioids to treat pain. It consists of 10 brief chapters that cover all aspects of opioid analgesia, from how and where opioids work in the body and expectations of treatment to the positive and negetive effects of these medications. Individual chapters outline the important differences between physical dependency, addiction, and diversion issues associated with opioid use. This video will help the busy practitioner establish common-sense rules for patients prescribed opioids.

To download the video, rightclick and choose "Save Target As."

Due to the length of this video, the file may take a few moments to download (this time will vary based on your connection speed). We thank you for your patience.

The Informed Consent is also available as a brief downloadable document in outline form that the physican can give to the patient for referral.

A short Informed Consent true/false posttest enables the physician to verify that the patient understands the risks and benefits of using opioids.

Copyright © Michael M. Moskowitz, MD, MPH

Download Informed Consent

Download Posttest



PHN Flowchart
Guide for the Prevention and Treatment of PHN

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a disabling consequence of herpes zoster (HZ) caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster infection, can be effectively prevented with the Zostavax vaccine and treated with several pharmacologic therapies.

Opiod Toolkit
Opioid Analgesia Tool Kit

Click on the link above to access the Tool Kit where you can find tools listed below.