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Post outpatient surgery for joint replacement, what are the benefits and/or drawbacks of sending a patient home with dexamethasone pills for pain? Over 100 patients at an institution received either dexamethasone or placebo for 4 days after a total knee arthroplasty. Pain scores for postoperative...
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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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The American Journal of Managed Care has published an article highlighting the need for policy changes in prescribing opioids postsurgery. The level of opioid dispensing in morphine milligram equivalents in 2019 was nearly 3 times greater than in 1999. In an effort to encourage use of pain...
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In a narrative review published in Cureus, researchers examined acute pain, which is normal postsurgery, and its potential transition to chronic pain. Postsurgery rates of persistent/subacute pain (lasting over a month) range from 10% to 50%; chronic pain (lasting more than 3 months) is seen in 2%...
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Postsurgery, who needs which kind of pain management medication? A study published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery looks at opioid-naïve patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting and/or valve surgery. Of more than 1900 patients, 28% were discharged without a prescription for opioids...
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At the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ 18th Annual Perioperative and Critical Care Conference, results from an examination of opioid prescribing for over 2,000 lung resection patients were presented. These patients were enrolled in an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol, which lead to...
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Researchers in an article published in this month’s BMJ ask, does medical cannabis relieve cancer or noncancer related chronic pain? They examined at around 30 trials with over 5100 patients given oral or topical medical cannabis. Results compared with placebo:
- Noninhaled medical cannabis led to...
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Postoperative pain in adults. Which is better for pain relief after outpatient surgery, NSAIDs or codeine? An article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, or CMAJ, detailed the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis, with patient pain scores as the primary outcome and...
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The Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act was recently introduced into the House of Representatives, after working its way through the senate. Its goal? To make it easier to access non-opioid pain management treatments. The Act hopes to “address payment disincentives for...
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An article in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons validated guidelines for patient-centered prescriptions to increase disposal of leftover opioids, per FDA-compliance, which are currently 20% to 30%. Patients were given prescriptions for pain killers based on what they were taking before...