Impact of Ambiguous and Restrictive Regulations on Opioid-Prescribing Practice in Georgia.

CONTEXT: Chronic pain management with opioids in incurable patients remains a challenge of modern medicine regardless of the evidence-based effectiveness of opioids and recommendations of authorities such as the World Health Organization and International Narcotics Control Board. Many countries, including Georgia, maintain overly restrictive regulations that contribute to inadequate pain management. OBJECTIVE: To identify barriers to pain management in Georgia caused by legislation, administrative issues, and physicians' lack of knowledge and understanding of legislative aspects governing opioid use, and their impact on opioid-prescribing practice. METHODS: We conducted a survey among 550 primary health care physicians. In total, 302 physicians completed the questionnaire. Overall, 289 questionnaires were analyzed statistically with SPSS version 20 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). RESULTS: We found that 38% of the physicians avoid prescribing opioids and only one-third of the physicians make an independent decision to treat the patients with opioids. About one-third of the physicians know the updated liberalized legislation and even fewer follow it. Those who apply more liberal legislation and have better medical practice are investigated three to five times more by legal authorities for prescribing morphine to incurable patients than those who do not. CONCLUSION: Ambiguous legislation negatively influences opioid-prescribing practice. Most of the physicians believe that the legislation is restrictive. Physicians who have better medical and legal knowledge and understanding are controlled and investigated more because of their opioid-prescribing practice. Physicians who are concerned that they might be investigated are less inclined to prescribe opioids or use liberalized regulations.

Palliative Care Development in Georgia.

Georgia has established the foundational measures for a national palliative care program-policy, education, drug availability, and implementation. Amendments to legislation needed to develop palliative care have been approved. Palliative care has been recognized as a subspecialty in oncology, critical care, internal medicine, and surgery. The National Plan for Palliative Care for 2011-2016 was approved. Opioids, especially oral morphine, are available on a limited basis for patients at home, but oral morphine is not available for patients in the hospital. Prescribing regulations have changed and all physicians are allowed to prescribe and the length of a prescription is now seven days rather than three days previously. Unfortunately, patients and families must still pick up their opioid medications at pharmacies in the police station. Opioids for cancer patients in inpatient units or at home are free. Palliative care education has been incorporated into both undergraduate and postgraduate medical and nursing education and a number of physicians have received specialist training abroad. Palliative Care Standards and Guidelines have been developed; and palliative care services, although insufficient to meet the need, are available for patients at home, as inpatients and a children's hospice opened in 2017.

The Contribution of the International Pain Policy Fellowship in Improving Opioid Availability in Georgia.

In the Republic of Georgia, the incidence and prevalence of cancer are increasing, signifying a growing need for palliative care and pain relief, including with controlled opioid medicines. As a signatory to the Single Convention, the Georgian government has a responsibility to ensure the adequate availability of controlled medicines for medical purposes; however, the consumption of morphine is very low, suggesting a high occurrence of unrelieved pain. In Georgia, palliative care development began in the 2000s including the adoption of a policy document in 2005, the creation of the National Palliative Care Coordinator in 2006, and important changes in Georgian legislation in 2007 and 2008, which served to lay a foundation for improving opioid availability. In 2008, a neurologist from the Sarajishvili Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Tbilisi, and member of the Georgia National Association for Palliative Care, was selected to be an International Pain Policy Fellow to focus on improving opioid availability. Working with colleagues, government officials, and international experts, the Fellow contributed to several improvements to opioid availability, such as 1) positive changes to opioid prescribing legislation, 2) clarification of legislative terminology regarding dependence syndrome, 3) initiating the importation of both sustained-release and immediate-release oral morphine, and 4) improvements in the availability of sustained-release morphine. Despite these varied achievements, morphine consumption remains low in Georgia relative to the estimated amounts needed. The Fellow is continuing to study and understand the barriers that are impeding physician's prescription of opioids and patient's acceptance of them.