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A new consensus report released last week by a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine urges a broad-based rethinking of our approach to chronic pain management, which would require changes in outlook and behavior from all stakeholders, including clinicians, patients...
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We offer a somewhat different selection for today’s Daily Dose, in the form of an interesting examination of the etiology and treatment of President John Kennedy’s chronic back pain. Authors T. Glenn Pait, MD, and Justin Dowdy, MD, reviewed case notes from JFK’s medical record, as well as spinal...
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A report published earlier this year in Journal of Opioid Management concludes that handwritten prescriptions for opioids are significantly more error-prone than are electronically created orders for the medications. Researchers conducted a small study of opioid prescriptions filled at the...
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American women who are pregnant or of reproductive age and use opioids for nonmedical reasons are also likely to use other substances including nicotine, alcohol, and/or cocaine, according to an analysis conducted at University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. The study is described as the...
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A study of a unique multidisciplinary psychological pain program at Toronto General Hospital has returned encouraging results in the form of enhanced functionality and quality of life, and reduced reliance on opioid therapy. The Transitional Pain Service (TPS) is described by practitioners at...
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Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, have reported that exposure to light can cause migraine sufferers to experience changes in mood and negatively impact a range of physiological parameters including heart rate, breathing, fatigue, nausea and congestion. The findings advance...
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The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) recently released an updated version of its guidelines for prescribers in the use of opioid therapy for chronic pain. The revised document draws on recent advisories from the CDC and the FDA, and is intended to reflect the most current science for...
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A review of available research conducted by a team from Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands has identified 10 genes that may help prescribers to anticipate individual patient responses to opioid therapy. The genetic markers could thus be of value to providers in adjusting...
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Dr. Fillingim discusses the evidence suggesting that changes in structure and function of the brain contribute to the pathophysiology of chronic pain. Drawing on a conceptual model of pain as on a continuum of peripheral and central contributors, the tailoring of brain vs body-focused treatment...
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It is possible to provide the best care for a patient and protect yourself from criminal and civil liability. In fact, when you do one right, you do the other right as well. Typically you want to look for three things as a prescriber of any controlled prescription medication, opioid or otherwise...