Background In the last two decades, drug overdose has globally become a major player in patients' morbidity and mortality events. Opioids, in particular, have been always the main part of this equation in different communities as they correspond, for instance, to one-third of poisoning deaths in The United States of America (USA). Aim This study aimed to measure the variation in opioid-analgesia (OA) prescription behavior among emergency medicine (EM) physicians working in different hospitals in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. Subjects and methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted among EM physicians in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among EM physicians using an electronic online survey. The questionnaire includes basic demographic characteristics and a 22-item questionnaire to assess opioid-prescribing behavior. Results A hundred and fifty-nine physicians took part in the study (male 61.6% vs female 38.4%). Of them, 59.7% were aged 23-30 years old, and junior residents constituted 35.1%. The factors that were associated with the most variable behavior were being aged 36-40 years old (p<0.001) and having more than 10 years in practice (p=0.007). The highest self-rated determinant factors were the apparent level of patients' distress, types of medications that were given, physicians' concerns about side effect profiles, patients' diagnoses, and pain scores. Conclusion EM physicians demonstrated an overall comparable prescribing behavior. Progression of physicians' age and years of practice both significantly affected our participant behavior. The highest self-rated prescribing factors were patients' distress level and the previously given medications. Further research is needed in order to implement better practical guidelines.
Keywords: addiction; emergency medicine; opioids; pain management; prescribing behavior.
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