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UDT is the preferred tool in patient centered care, and is increasingly important in risk management. Heit and Gourlay discuss how it can offer clinicians insight into patient identification, treatment, and monitoring, and provide objective data for risk evaluation.
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Methadone is an outstanding analgesic. It has a long half-life which can be very tricky of course, but it gives the patient the flexibility of only having to take their analgesic twice a day. It also has multiple mechanisms of action over and above the other opioids. It’s a mu receptor agonist but...
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Worker’s Compensation patients differ from the average group health claim. Most people on Worker’s Compensation have had some kind of a physical injury that has led to a chronic pain condition. Whereas in group health claims for pain therapy it’s much more focused on management of diseases of either...
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Number 1, you’re doing a urine test for the patient, not to the patient. It’s to increase communication, not decrease communication. You have to know what question you’re trying to answer with a urine drug test.The test is an important tool but it’s just a tool and you have to know its strength and...
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Urine testing is very good at doing some things but I think we have to be careful that we don’t extend the science of urine drug testing beyond what it’s good for. Really what it’s good for is, as Howard says, opening a dialogue; facilitating a difficult, in some cases impossible, subject to broach...
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One of the things to keep in mind about good communication is really being in the room with your patient--really listening. I know that can be quite difficult for some specialties these days especially with mandated reporting on computers and such, but it is so important especially for teenagers to...
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A specialist in addiction medicine offers guidance in identifying opioid misuse and the appropriate means of withdrawing patients from long term opioid therapy. The longer term management and rehabilitation of these patients is also considered.
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Dr. Weaver discusses the consequences of alcohol use disorder (AUD) for the development and management of chronic pain syndromes. Techniques for screening for AUD, and motivational interviewing as a therapeutic technique are also considered.
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Chronic pain patients who fail standard treatments represent a growing problem, and a dilemma for health care providers. A pain specialist and senior PAINWeek faculty member discusses what we know about treatment failure, and outlines some elements of a successful treatment approach.
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Dr. Reid reviews some of the age-related complications of geriatric pain management, and discusses the safety and efficacy of both pharmacologic and alternative treatment modalities. The value of collaborative models of care delivery for this patient group is also considered.