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Myths and barriers to prescribing morphine |
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| MYTHS |
BARRIERS |
|
|
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| Professional fears about safety of morphine and addiction |
Logistic supply chain and transport inadequacies |
| Public fears that morphine expedites death |
Lack of pharmacists and pharmacy support |
| Perceived difficulties in predicting national requirements |
Lack of trained palliative care staff |
| Fears about illegal diversion |
Over regulation, legal barriers and complex regulations |
| Fear of inaccurate diagnosis |
Difficulties finding patients in need of care and following them up |
| Perception that all therapeutic morphine prescribed needs to be accounted for |
Lack of hospital/palliative care vehicles |
| Low priority given by medical staff to the dying |
Palliative care nurse training lengthy |
| Cost of complimentary drugs e.g. laxatives or Step 1 and 2 analgesics |
|
| Perceptions that laws governing therapeutic morphine are difficult to change |
Morphine storage difficulties |
| Health staff overwhelmed |
|
| Low priority by hospitals to palliative care |
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Logie and Harding BMC Public Health 2005 5:82 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-5-82 |
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