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In Australia, “Hospitalisations and deaths related to opioid overuse, misuse, or overdose increased by 240% and 180%, respectively, with a corresponding 32-fold increase in yearly public health costs to $271 million AUD within the past 2 decades.” After implementing a single anesthesiologist-led...
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In an effort to uncover empirical evidence, the National Football League is funding a trial on the efficacy of cannabis. Many professional athletes claim cannabis lessens pain after a game and accelerates recovery, but does it? Via testing and monitoring, the NFL hopes to determine the value, and...
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The journal of Anesthesiology featured a special article in which a new concept is presented: a prescription opioid ecosystem. The need for this ecosystem stems from the “opioid paradox” that, even though the past 10 years has seen a drop in opioid prescribing of about 38%, deaths from opioids have...
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“Leaders in pain medicine recognize that terminology needs to keep up with our understanding of disorders, their pathophysiologies, and their treatment.” So say the authors of an article published in the Journal of Pain Research, one of whom is long time PAINWeek faculty, Michael Schatman, PhD, CPE...
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At least 1 in 5 Australians live with chronic pain. Much like North America, that pain translates into high health costs and low productivity. $4.1 million will help to improve access to rural and remote Australians and those who most need chronic long term pain management. Among other benefits, the...
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The European Journal of Pain published a 2-part clinical practice guideline: part 1 covers the role of opioids in the management of chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) and part 2, special situations. The position paper was commissioned by the European Pain Federation (EFIC). Eight scientific societies and...
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Insurance companies would be more likely to pay for nontraditional approaches to pain management if they knew these methods worked. Jon Porter, medical director of the University of Vermont Medical Center Comprehensive Pain Program, and researchers compiled qualitative data from people who...
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Does money talk? How can hospitals be encouraged to promote quicker treatment for opioid use disorder? Researchers at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published findings in the journal of Psychiatric Services, their objectives being, “a voluntary financial incentive...
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An Annals of Internal Medicine online article seeks “To characterize the quality of safety and efficacy data in new drug applications (NDAs) for opioid analgesics approved by the FDA between 1997 and 2018.” Researchers state that “Approvals of prescription opioids by the U.S. Food and Drug...
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A poster abstract (LB008) presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine 36th Annual Meeting acknowledges the potential of sweat as a biofluid alternative for drug testing. The abstract states that, although used extensively, “sampling of urine is inconvenient, tamper prone, and results are...