Access the new Opioid Safety Toolkit – a resource for you and your patients
Country SA PHN Newsletter June 2025
Clinical and allied health professionals have a critical role to play in reducing our current high rates of prescription opioid-related harm. These harms, including dependence,1,2 overdose,3 hospitalisation and death,4 are driven by one of the world’s highest per-capita rates of opioid use.5
The new Opioid Safety Toolkit is an evidence-based, Commonwealth-funded, online interactive resource designed to improve health literacy for people taking prescription opioids for chronic pain.
It empowers consumers to use prescription opioids safely by creating a personalised opioid safety plan6 that identifies their unique risks and guides prevention, symptom recognition and emergency response to severe opioid-related adverse effects, also known as toxicity or overdose. The toolkit emphasises the critical importance of accessing naloxone, a free, life-saving medicine that temporarily reverses the effects of opioids and can be administered while waiting for emergency services to arrive. Severe adverse effects can happen even when the correct prescribed dose is taken; while patients may never need naloxone, it is recommended that they have it on hand to protect themselves and their loved ones.
By promoting the toolkit and utilising its Routine Opioid Outcome Monitoring (ROOM) Tool, doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals can enhance clinical care by assisting patients to monitor their opioid-related clinical and quality of life outcomes (including identifying unmanaged pain, risks or adverse effects), engaging in patient-centred discussions,7 and improving patient health literacy. Visit the Monash University website for background on the ROOM Tool’s development and resources for health professionals.
Don’t miss the opportunity to make a difference – you can offer the Opioid Safety Toolkit to your patients prescribed opioids for pain today. You could save a life!
Campbell G, Noghrehchi F, Nielsen S, Clare P, Bruno R, Lintzeris N, et al. Risk factors for indicators of opioid-related harms amongst people living with chronic non-cancer pain: findings from a 5-year prospective cohort study. EClinicalMedicine. 2020:28:100592.
Campbell G, Nielsen S, Larance B, Bruno R, Mattick R, Hall W, et al. Pharmaceutical opioid use and dependence among people living with chronic pain: associations observed within the Pain and Opioids in Treatment (POINT) Cohort. Pain Medicine. 2015:16(9):1745-58.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Opioid harm in Australia: and comparisons between Australia and Canada. Canberra: AIHW; 2018.
Ju C, Wie L, Man KKC, Wang Z, Ma T-T, Chan AYL, et al. Global, regional, and national trends in opioid analgesic consumption from 2015 to 2019: a longitudinal study. Lancet Public Health. 2022;7(4):e335-e46.
Jordan M, Nielsen SCM, Bonney A, Jones-Mazariegos V, Carter A, et al. Perceptions of rural healthcare providers of the usefulness of the ROOM Tool in assisting in opioid reviews for people with chronic, noncancer pain (CNCP). Australian Pain Society 44th Annual Scientific Meeting, Darwin, Australia; 2024.
