Expert alert: Anesthesiologist-led consortium seeks to improve pain care in overlooked patients with chronic pain, substance use disorder and opioid tolerance

Guidelines for managing surgical pain omit patients with a history of chronic pain, substance use disorder and/or opioid tolerance. To address this disparity, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) gathered 15 medical organizations representing more than 500,000 physicians to develop…

NIH Awards Researchers $7.5 Million to Create Data Support Center for Opioid Use Disorder and Pain Management Research

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have been awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative. The NIH HEAL initiative, which launched in 2018, was created to find scientific solutions to stem the national opioid and pain public health crises.

Checklist Prompters Support ICU Rounds

New research from UPMC points to the potential for patient-specific checklists as a valid way to effectively translate the latest evidence into clinical practice. The study published in American Journal of Critical Care measured performance on the ABCDEF bundle during rounds.

Researchers Receive $3.2 Million to Study Efficacy of Mind-body Practices in Improving Pain, Surgical Outcomes

Can mind-body practices such as gentle yoga or self-reflection benefit patients undergoing surgery? It’s a question that researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine are examining with the support of a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Multimodal analgesia: The new ‘standard of care’ for pain control after total joint replacement

Until relatively recently, opioids were a mainstay of treatment for pain following total hip or knee replacement. Today, a growing body of evidence supports the use of multimodal analgesia – combinations of different techniques and medications to optimize pain management while reducing the use and risks of opioids, according to a paper in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer.

AAOS Advances Biologics Initiative with Innovative Dashboard

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) continues to demonstrate its commitment to advancing the quality of musculoskeletal care in a fully transparent and scientific way. Debuting today as a new member benefit, the AAOS Biologics Dashboard is a dynamic online tool designed to help orthopaedic surgeons navigate the approval status of biologic-based interventions. The development of the AAOS Biologics Dashboard is just one of several efforts within the Academy’s Biologics Initiative that offers evidence-based guidance to the musculoskeletal health community. An additional effort is the revision of two biologics-related position statements, recently approved by the AAOS Board of Directors.

New Recommendations Steer Doctors Away from Opioids to Treat Pain in Adolescent Athletes

Athletes commonly experience pain in practice and competition. Inadequate or inappropriate pain management in adolescent athletes can lead to a lifetime of consequences including increased risk of opioid misuse. A team physician consensus statement just released by ACSM and 5 other sports medicine organizations shares guidelines to identify and manage pain in athletes ages 10 to 18.

Opioid Risk Reduction Program Helps Reduce Suicide Rate at VHA Facility

A reduction in suicides among patients at a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facility may be due to a multispecialty opioid risk reduction program that included addiction management treatment, according to a new study presented this week at the Association of Academic Physiatrists Annual Meeting in Orlando.

Opioid Dependence Found to Permanently Change Brains of Rats

Approximately one-quarter of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them, with five to 10 percent developing an opioid use disorder or addiction. In a new study, UC San Diego researchers found that opioid dependence produced permanent changes in the brains of rats.