An ethnography of chronic pain management in primary care: The social organization of physicians' work in the midst of the opioid crisis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

This study reports on physicians' experiences with chronic pain management. For over a decade prescription opioids have been a primary treatment for chronic pain in North America. However, the current opioid epidemic has complicated long-standing practices for chronic pain management which historically involved prescribing pain medication. Caring for patients with chronic pain occurs within a context in which a growing proportion of patients suffer from chronic rather than acute conditions alongside rising social inequities.

Methods

Our team undertook an ethnographic approach known as institutional ethnography in the province of Ontario, Canada in order to explore the social organization of chronic pain management from the standpoint of primary care physicians. Th

SUBMITTER: Webster F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6493733 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature