Terms used by healthcare professionals to describe opioid use disorder

Abstract

Abstract Background Using prescription opioids for a long period of time or at high doses can increase the risk of developing opioid use disorder (OUD). Whether a patient has an official diagnosis of OUD or not can change medical practice regarding how that individual is treated. It is imperative to be aware of who may have an undiagnosed OUD in order to avoid potential negative events such as infectious diseases associated with intravenous drug use. The purpose of this research project is to identify unique words and phrases healthcare professionals commonly use to describe patients with OUD. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review at a tertiary care academic medical center. We included all patients with a diagnosis of OUD who had an encounter with a clinician in 2018. The chart notes from a specific appointment were reviewed to identify any unique terms or phrases used by the healthcare professionals in this note. The unique terms found were reported as a number and rate that represents how many chart notes it appeared in overall. Results Overall, 297 encounters in the electronic medical record were analyzed for terms associated with OUD. Of the 297 encounters reviewed, 83 notes had no mention of OUD, and 214 notes were found to have unique terms associated with OUD with a total of 322 unique terms and phrases identified. Opioid use disorder was the most used term occurring in 95 of the 297 (32.0%) encounters. A phrase or term containing the word “opioid” was found in 154 of the 297 (51.9%) notes. Suboxone was the second most common term found in 53 (17.8%) notes. Other common terms included cravings (49, 16.5%), relapse (42, 14.1%), and trigger (26, 8.8%). Conclusions OUD often goes undiagnosed. Knowing these key words and searching for them can assist healthcare professionals in identifying patients with undiagnosed OUD.