Role of Medication

Most episodes of acute pain can be managed with medication and the pain usually goes away when the injury or illness heals.

However medication alone is not helpful for the management of chronic pain and and patients need to adopt other strategies.

In cases of chronic pain, medicines such as opioids contribute on average to only a 30% reduction in pain. They may also have unwanted side-effects and can be harmful and addictive if used long-term.

If you are using medication alone to deal with pain, please discuss other options with your GP. 

Changes to Codeine Access

Codeine-containing medications will be available by prescription only from 1 February 2018. In the lead up to this change, the Therapeutic Goods Administration hosted a national series of workshops to help health professionals dealing with chronic and acute pain with alternative strategies for pain management. Presentations for the workshop include:.

1. Changes to codeine product access: Background to the decision to change to prescription-only – Professor John Skerritt & Avi Rebera  

2. Alternative options to codeine in the pharmacy – Pene Wood 

3. Rethinking our approach to pain and the role of opioid therapy – Dr Malcolm Hogg

4. Over the counter, down the hatch: OTC codeine use – Dr Mathew Frei

5. Delivering pain management in a rural setting – Dr Malcolm Hogg

6. Panel Q&A Session

Resources