Meet CSI:OPIOIDs team member, Dr. Adam Gordon at VA Salt Lake City and University of Utah!
Hello Adam, tell us about yourself!
I’m Adam Gordon. I’m a physician in internal medicine and addiction medicine. I’m also a health services investigator: I seek to improve the access and quality of care for patients who are vulnerable, including those with pain and/or addiction. I am also a gardener! I have worked with Dr. Kertesz for over 2 decades and we are passionate about reducing the harms associated with involuntary opioid tapering and tapering in general. Indeed, we have published many articles about this. I am passionate about the CSI:OPIOIDs study. I offer advice and my expertise to the research team, but more importantly I want to learn from patients, families, and significant others about lives lost.
What has been the most interesting/surprising/meaningful thing about doing this work, so far?
We have known from prior studies that health care providers have had difficulty in addressing pain and opioid prescribing for pain. Often times, the care may not be patient-centric. Many providers follow guidelines strictly, often not listening to patients or individualizing patient care. The work of CSI-OPIOIDS validates these thoughts. The narratives we have heard indicate that patients with chronic pain are very vulnerable. Rapport, patient-collaboration, and patient-driven health care choices are important. My hope is that CSI:OPIOIDS will change how health care providers perceive patients with chronic and acute pain and change how they address pain and opioid prescribing among these patients.
What ideas do you have that might help us think about suicide and how to prevent it?
Suicide is obviously not the most optimum outcome. Preventing suicide is incredibly important. CSI:OPIOIDS may be the critical research that can prevent suicide among patients with chronic pain. Changing health care provider perceptions and stigma regarding patients with chronic pain may be the first step to improve their interaction with these patients.
What do you think people in our society might need to learn at this time about pain and its care?
It is unfortunate that our health care training has not included more patient-centric approaches for acute and chronic pain. Thus, existing health care providers are often unclear how to address pain among their patients. With guidelines and health insurers may give a false mandate to “do this or that” with every patient, health care providers often cannot individualize care. I am concerned about patient abandonment and patient distrust in the health care system. Patients with pain need to trust their providers and not feel that they have to justify their pain or existing treatment to every provider. Health care providers need to trust their patients too. Patient and provider rapport is important in addressing acute and chronic pain. CSI:OPIOIDS will help build this rapport.
