Pain in the United States: Time for a Culture Shift in Expectations, Messaging, and Management

Abstract

Opioid prescribing has dramatically increased in the United States (US) over the past two decades, fueling the current crisis of opioid-related adverse events and deaths.1 Understanding the potential contributors to this increased prescribing is paramount to developing effective strategies for preventing propagation. In this issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine, Burden et al. report the results of a cross-sectional observational study investigating the rates of opioid receipt, patient satisfaction with pain control, and other perceptions of pain management in a sample of patients from geographically diverse US hospitals compared with patients hospitalized in seven other countries.2 Although cultural influences on pain perceptions have been demonstrated by others previously, this is the first study to measure opioid receipt and patient satisfaction with pain control across an international sample of hospitalized patients.