Doctor-Patient Trust Among Chronic Pain Patients on Chronic Opioid Therapy after Opioid Risk Reduction Initiatives: A Survey.

OBJECTIVE

This analysis examined patients' perceptions about trust within the doctor-patient relationship related to managing opioid pain medications. We compared perceptions among chronic opioid therapy (COT) patients who were and were not exposed to opioid risk reduction initiatives.

METHODS

Between 2014 and 2016, we surveyed 1588 adults with chronic pain receiving COT about their trust in their prescribing doctor, their perceptions of their doctor's trust in them, their concerns about opioid prescribing, and their knowledge of opioid safety concerns. The population included adults receiving care in intervention settings that implemented opioid risk reduction initiatives and control settings with similar COT patients that did not.

RESULTS

Overall, 82.2% of COT patients said they trusted their doctor's judgment, with more agreement among patients in the control clinics (86.3%; n = 653) than in the intervention clinics (77.9%; n = 935; = .002). Similarly, slightly more patients in the control clinics believed their physician trusted how they managed their opioid pain medicines (91.1%) compared with the intervention clinics (86.2%; = .002). The percent who worried that their doctor would stop prescribing opioid pain medicine was 29.3% in intervention clinics and 21.8% in control clinics ( = .007).

CONCLUSIONS

Although COT patients typically reported favorable perceptions of doctor-patient trust in managing opioid pain medicines, implementation of opioid risk reduction initiatives may have reduced levels of trust for a minority of COT patients. This suggests that it may be possible to implement opioid risk-reduction initiatives while sustaining high levels of doctor-patient trust for most COT patients.