| Article
The Journal of Pain Research published an article in which researchers conducted phone interviews with chronic pain patients, clinicians, and clinic staff. In an effort to understand barriers to long-term opioid therapy, the researchers questioned 15 patients, 7 primary care clinicians, and 3 office...
| Podcast
Burnout, a phenomenon closely linked with depression and characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced self-efficacy, has increased at a disproportionate rate in physicians compared to the general US working population. While interventions have been developed to address...
| Podcast
In the Emperor’s tale, 2 weavers promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that, they say, is invisible to those who are incompetent or unfit for their positions. When the emperor parades before his subjects nude, no one dares to say anything for fear that they will be seen as such. This is a similar...
| Article
A new surgical approach may offer better outcomes for patients with hallux rigidus, or arthritis of the toe, according to Andrew Elliott, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery, New York. Commenting on the condition, Dr. Elliott said “…hallux rigidus (is) one of the most frequent...
| Article
Emergency room clinicians at the Jacobs School of Medicine, University of Buffalo, are working to deploy an innovative approach to delivering medication-assisted treatment for patients with opioid use disorder. The Buffalo Medication Assisted Treatment & Emergency Referrals (MATTERS) program was...
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There are a lot of theories about CRPS. There are theories about glial cell involvement, or dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. To my mind, there is a hormonal component because 80 percent of my patients are women. There’s a genetic component because I have seen 18 families where more than...
| Article
Failed back surgery syndrome is a problem that affects about 20 to 40 percent of patients who have had back surgery. There are many reasons for this and a lot of it has to do with the peri-operative and pre-operative work up of those patients. For example, studies show that 60% of the time they did...
| Article
Practitioners end up at risk in drug testing because they lack knowledge of the policies that payors put out on medical necessity. They also can get into a lot of trouble if they don’t understand the mechanics of the clinical laboratory regarding presumptive testing and definitive testing. It’s...
| Article
Practitioners have been outspoken in describing how they feel a lack of confidence in their own abilities to use opioids, in who to use them, and how to use them. If you couple that with their lack of knowledge about the alternatives to opioids, you really have a situation that is bound to fail...
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I definitely would agree that methadone needs to be respected. I think the other thing, though, is there is such a negative stigma about it that a lot of practitioners have kind of thrown their hands up saying, ‘I don’t understand this, we’re not going to do it.’ What we learn about are always the...