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“Compounded topical analgesics” is a significant gray area, with regulations. But compounding topical analgesics is essentially taking medicines that by themselves work and are used in healthcare for a variety of reasons, and putting them together in a topical cream based on the prescription of a...
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Burnout has increased at a disproportionate rate in US clinicians compared to the general working population. It is a significant issue that warrants further attention.
- It is estimated that 39% of US physicians meet symptoms for depression.
- The suicide rate among physicians is 2 times higher...
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The crisis of opioid overdose has led us to the challenge of balancing compassionate and effective treatment of pain against the risks of medication misuse, all in an environment of political and regulatory reactiveness. What are the core ethical principles to help ensure that the needs of patients...
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Education is a powerful weapon in the management of pain. But how do you keep students interested?
An educational intervention must be carefully planned to be effective. It’s important to prepare clinicians for anything ranging from the curbside consult to an entire course.
- I think to go to a...
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Individuals who suffer from chronic pain often present with significant medical and psychiatric comorbidities that can exacerbate the pain experience and contribute to disability and a further erosion of quality of life. In this current climate of reducing the reliance on opioids or opioid sparing...
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What a person experiences during a migraine, loosely speaking, is a very sensitized brain. Migraine is among the most disabling disorders in the world, and much of the treatment armamentarium to date comes with significant unwanted effects. But new advances in our understanding of neurotransmitters...
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New opportunities: looking for nonopioids. Some make a lot of sense. Some are uninspiring: when I think about the world relying on them, and them alone, as opioids become harder and harder to get. That’s the world we presently live in. However, prescribing is going down, and the death rate is going...
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Psychiatry really should be one of the earlier consultations that the primary care doctor brings onto the team. If everything is going well and the patient is progressing and getting more functional, that’s a keep going strategy. But if the patient doesn’t seem to be responding in a positive way...
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We wanted to get real-world prescribing and real-world consumption data from beyond the ivory tower, from beyond just an academic medical center. To really understand what was happening in our communities as it related to surgical care, pain care, and opioids, and to create patient centered...
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The majority of women who suffer from sexual pain disorders oftentimes don’t receive the most appropriate care. Up until recently it wasn’t even recognized as an actual disorder, but with the change in nomenclature to genital pelvic pain penetration disorder it helps legitimize this condition as an...