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Clinicians at Toronto General Hospital have been engaging a unique pain program to assist surgical patients in weaning off opioids while still providing pain management alternatives that enhance quality of life. The Transitional Pain Program employs a range of strategies to prevent acute...
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In what the authors say is the first response to an unmet need, an expert panel from Johns Hopkins has published a set of 20 operation-specific opioid prescribing guidelines. In general, the consensus guidance represents a reduction from current prescribing practice, and the authors note that this...
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New research from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that the effort to establish harm reduction resources to address the opioid abuse crisis could be assisted by changing the name of these locations from “safe consumption sites” to “overdose prevention sites.” A survey of a...
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Younger patients who filled a prescription for opioids when undergoing wisdom tooth extraction were 2.7 times more likely to fill at least 2 more prescriptions in the following year, according to findings from a new study conducted in association with the Michigan Opioid Prescribing and Engagement...
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A new retrospective study conducted by researchers from University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City reports that preoperative use of opioids is a significant predictor of continued postoperative opioid use in patients who undergo lumbar spinal fusion surgery. Study author Andrew Pugely, MD...
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I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. In the early 2000s, there was this increase in opioid prescribing and use that has led us to the predicament we’re in now with the opioid abuse and misuse epidemic, as they’re calling it. And now no one wants to prescribe them. For our...
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Findings from a recent study suggest that rethinking the delivery mechanism for buprenorphine may enhance its effectiveness in treating opioid use disorder (OUD), now estimated to affect some 2.6 million American patients. The medication is typically delivered sublingually in the form of tablets or...
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Although the CDC has issued recommendations against taking opioids with benzodiazepines, almost 25% of Medicare patients who are prescribed opioids are also getting prescriptions for benzodiazepines. Now, results from a study conducted at the University of Pittsburg School of Pharmacy confirms the...
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Working with mouse models, a research team from Johns Hopkins has discovered that activation of 2 nerve cell receptors in concert with the administration of opioids can significantly reduce the amount of opioid needed to obtain pain relief. This suggests a potential new avenue to forestalling the...
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The terms prescribing guidelines and prescribing rules are often used interchangeably although they really have separate meanings. Guidelines, by their nature, are voluntary recommendations. Whereas prescribing rules are mandatory. It’s important for prescribers to be aware of what exactly the rules...