Der Schmerz
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Professionals in the medical field are expected to participate in continuing medical education in the sense of lifelong learning. The authors took this occasion to evaluate the most important national convention in pain medicine concerning its role in medical education. ⋯ Regarding content and educational value, the congress design could benefit from additional Praktikerseminaren (practical seminars). The role of interprofessional partners should be more emphasized. In addition the program could become more attractive through a more balanced distribution of the CanMEDS roles.
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A 34-year-old woman presented with a complex pain disorder and a previous diagnosis of the rare Gitelman syndrome but with a negative genetic test. The patient was admitted to a routine ward for treatment of the pain but was transferred to the intensive care unit after suffering severe hypokalemia and a narcoleptic attack. ⋯ With consent the patient's belongings were inspected and many diuretics and laxatives were found. The patient admitted to uncontrolled self-medication so that the diagnosis of Gitelman syndrome also appeared to be an artificial disorder.
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Multimodal pain management is a comprehensive treatment of complex chronic pain syndromes. In addition to medical therapy various other specialized therapeutic interventions based on the biopsychosocial model of pain origin and chronic pain development, are added. During the last few years treatment centers for chronic pain have been established throughout Germany. ⋯ In daily practice there is, however, still a lack of clarity and of consistency about the components that multimodal pain management should contain. This is the reason for the ad hoc commission on multimodal interdisciplinary pain management of the German Pain Society to propose the following position paper that has been worked out in a multilevel and interdisciplinary consensus process. The paper describes the mandatory treatment measures in the four core disciplines of multimodal pain management, pain medicine, psychotherapy, exercise therapy including physiotherapy and assistant medical professions including nurses.
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Apart from the prescribed administration and indications for pain relief, opioids are also used for unintended purposes. Information for misuse is circulated on the internet. In order to analyze the abuse of opioids and opiates,which are only available by prescription, defined search keywords were entered into the search engine of a German language internet forum on drugs in 2010 and 2013 and the results were evaluated. ⋯ Other opioids were named in only 10 % of the entries. Oral intake was the most frequently mentioned mode of administration followed by parenteral and nasal routes. These findings can support caregivers to identify unintended use of opioids and to increase awareness of the most frequently used opioids and modes of administration.