| Article
What I generally hear people say when we go in and introduce ourselves and say we’re part of the palliative care team is “But I’m not dying.” That’s the big confusion. Palliative gets mistaken for hospice. We try to define what it truly is: symptom management and conversation and support for anybody...
| Podcast
Complex medication decisions are an integral part of treating patients with pain and palliative care. Pharmacists have a unique perspective on using these medications creatively and effectively. This session will flirt with tips and tricks on using medications appropriately for patients with chronic...
| Article
When we talk about complex pain and patients with advanced illness, there are some basics that people need to know, which is how to treat the patients with opioids and other coanalgesic medications, but the key point is that it’s a team affair, and I would ask primary care physicians not to do it...
| Article
Patients who are diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer may be at reduced risk of suicide if they are enrolled in palliative care, according to a study of more than 20,000 lung cancer patients in the Veterans Administration Central Cancer Registry. Palliative care is intended to relieve pain and...
| Podcast
There are many changes in the body composition of the older adult that can lead to altered effects of drug therapies. Symptom management in the older adult can be complicated as many of the drugs which we use are amongst those recommended to be avoided in this population. It is critical to...
| Article
In a recent article, “Getting It Right at the End of Life,” author Dina Keller Moss, lead researcher for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Maryland, relates a personal experience on the value of palliative care as a route to preserving patient satisfaction and quality of...
| Podcast
Opioids are the most powerful tool we have in our arsenal for the management of moderate to severe pain, yet great care and attention to detail in dosing is necessary to prevent patient suffering and death. This presentation is a "boots on the ground" approach to selecting, dosing, titrating, and...
| Podcast
Step right up and receive all the updates on alternative routes of administration to the oral and intravenous route. In this lively session the pharmacology of rectal, sublingual, topical, and subcutaneous routes of opioid therapy in the setting of palliative care will be discussed. For each...
| Article
There’s a new oral formulation for opioid induced constipation and it falls under the class of the PAMORAs which are the peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonists.
So far on the market we have methylnaltrexone which is subcutaneous, we have alvimopan which is oral but it causes heart...
| Video
Dr. Atayee overviews some recently approved medications for treatment of opioid-induced constipation, nausea from chemotherapy, and insomnia. Clinical evidence is scarce, but all bear further investigation.