TABLE 5.

Rating of factors affecting decision not to prescribe opioids for chronic noncancer pain

Factor affecting decision	Rating, %			Total responses, n
	Not important*	Neutral*	Important*
Concern about long-term adverse effects, eg, addiction or misuse	7	7	87	31
Lack of evidence for effectiveness of opioids in chronic noncancer pain	16	16	66	32
Concern that patients complain of pain out of proportion to objective findings	16	22	63	32
Type of practice limits follow-up, eg, walk-in clinic	43	10	40	30
Concern about becoming a target prescriber of opioids	34	22	38	32
Concern about audit by regulatory or monitoring body	56	19	22	32
Concern about short-term adverse effects, eg, constipation, sedation	47	31	19	32
Takes too much time to titrate and monitor	66	16	16	32
Inadequate knowledge of dosages	78	13	6	32
Inadequate knowledge of which opioids to use	72	16	6	32

^*Per cent of respondents rating importance of factor as 1 or 2 (not important), 3 (neutral), or 4 or 5 (important) on 5-point Likert scale. Percentage may not total 100% because some respondents indicated ‘no opinion’