The FDA’s Safe Use Initiative program recently focused on medication risks that are directly associated with pain management in older adults. The Safe Use Initiative carries a mission to build collaborative relationships between both public and private members of the healthcare community. Through these collaborations, the goal is to identify preventable medication risks and develop, implement, and evaluate interventions in order to reduce preventable harm to medication users. In a recent meeting of gerontological pain management advocates, attendees began the important work of collaborating and developing specific goals to address the issue of preventable harm in pain management for older adults.

To guide the beginning stages of this particular initiative, the participants discussed the many challenges associated with pain management in this population. Meeting attendees synthesized a long list of barriers to the safe use of pain medications in older adults into four areas:

1. failure to use existing processes, mechanisms and tools effectively;
2. failure to engage, communicate and educate relevant stakeholders effectively;
3. lack of health care professional training; and
4. lack of patient education and awareness

At the conclusion of the meeting, a decision was made to focus initially on the safe use of NSAIDs in older adults. A steering committee of meeting participants was formed and will meet regularly to chart future steps, engage and recruit participants, and develop specific cross-cutting interventions to improve the safe use of NSAIDs. The committee will target concerns related to NSAID use that were identified during the meeting. These included 1) the failure to use renal dosing guidelines; 2) chronic use of NSAIDs; 3) the use of multiple NSAID products leading to NSAID overdose; 4) the lack of documentation of Over-the-counter NSAIDS intake; and 5) the lack of monitoring for NSAID side effects.

Educational resources, clinical guidelines, and consumer guidelines may be some of the expected results of the work of the steering committee and future participants on the Safe Use Initiative. Currently, the FDA website provides general information appropriate for older adults and their families related to pain management. This information can be found at: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/ucm163959.htm#otc  

The GeriatricPain.org website provides two additional resources of interest to clinicians who are educating older adults, one about addressing pain in people with dementia and another that addresses frequently asked questions about persistent pain.  You can access these at: http://www.geriatricpain.org/Content/Education/Patient/Pages/default.aspx

The complete article regarding the Safe Use Initiative mentioned above is located at: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm231647.htm