Relax, All Antispasmodics Are the Same….Right?

Considering the significant risks of surgery, initiatives to improve safety and outcomes would have a broad impact on public health. The number of surgical procedures worldwide has grown to over 232 million annually. Studies report that Americans undergo an average of 9.2 surgical procedures per...

Fewer Opioids After Minor Surgeries with Smaller Prescription Sizes

Newswise — Having a hernia repaired, or an appendix or gallbladder removed, hurts. And for the past two decades, patients having these common operations in the U.S. have gone home from the hospital with prescriptions for dozens of opioid pills to ease that pain.

But with rising concern about the...

Emerging Trends in Acute Pain Management

This course will review evidence based nonopioid medications and modalities for acute pain in the acute care and primary care setting. Among the tools to be discussed are intravenous lidocaine for renal colic, topical analgesics for muscular pain, trigger point injections for acute and chronic...

Fighting the Pain Crisis Together: Best Practice Recommendations

Emphasizing the importance of individualized patient-centered care in the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic pain, the Department of Health & Human Services has released a Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report: Updates, Gaps, Inconsistencies, and Recommendations...

Best Practices for Both Acute and Chronic Pain Management

NEWSWIRE--This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Management Best Practices Interagency Task Force will meet to vote on final best practice recommendations focused on acute and chronic pain, including opioid use and prescribing, and will also hear public comment. This...

The Role of Acute Care in the Opioid Epidemic

Michigan OPEN—the Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network—was founded to develop a preventive approach to the opioid epidemic in the state through a focus on reducing acute care prescribing (surgery, dentistry, emergency medicine, and trauma). Addressing opioid prescribing during the acute care period...

Less Sleep, More Pain—Not Sleeping Well at Night May Be the Cause

The association between chronic pain and sleep impairment has been well documented, including findings from a 2015 poll by the National Sleep Foundation that 2 of 3 patients with chronic pain also experience recurring disruptions in their sleep. New research conducted at UC Berkeley’s Center for...

Texting for Better Outcomes from Joint Replacement

A new study conducted at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, reports that a system of automated text messaging improves patient outcomes from joint replacement surgery in several key metrics, including time to recovery of knee motion, reduced use of opioid medications for pain, better adherence...

A Breakthrough in Cartilage Repair and Knee Pain?

Results from new experiments using rabbits suggest a promising new approach for the treatment of knee joint pain resulting from degeneration of cartilage tissue in the joint. The advance involves augmenting a common therapeutic procedure called microfracture with an implanted 3D-printed scaffold...

Children with Elbow Fractures Often Overprescribed Opioids for Pain

Newswise — Philadelphia, Jan. 16, 2019—Opioid drugs prescribed to children for pain relief after a typical pediatric orthopaedic procedure may be significantly overprescribed, according to a new study by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The patients used less than 25...