What is the Opiod Risk Tool (ORT) and how does it work?

The Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) was developed in 2005 to help identify the individuals most at risk for deliberate overuse of or addiction to controlled substances (Webster & Webster, 2005). It contains 10 items scored to identify low, moderate, or high risk of aberrant drug-related behaviors, and is designed for individuals age 16 and older. It is not designed to deny individuals of prescriptions, but to determine which patients require closer observation during treatment.

Cognition is entangled with drug use in multiple ways. Pain relief, direct medication effects, and withdrawal can all have different, and potentially conflicting, effects on cognition. Cognition is also linked with risk for problematic behaviors and probability of relapse. The ORT makes a natural companion to the Creyos cognitive tasks. It joins the AUDIT and DAST-10 to round out the tools available to clinicians working with drug prescription, use, and abuse.