Aust Fam Physician
-
Maximising the effectiveness of your appointment system in general practice has the potential to connect patients and clinicians for timely care and create a sustainable working environment. ⋯ Five common appointment strategies have emerged through the work of the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives: open access, book on the day, supersaturate, carve out and advanced access systems. All these systems have advantages and disadvantages and may suit different practices depending on their contexts and populations. It is helpful to measure how effective the current practice approach is in dealing with delay and delivering satisfaction. Specific approaches such as 'appointment golf' and 'jeopardy doctor' may help improve system functioning. Practices should make intentional choices about their appointment system to meet the needs of their patients, staff and clinicians.
-
Opioids have a critical, time-limited role in our management of acute and terminal pain and an open-ended role in our management of opioid dependency. They also have a use in the management of chronic non-cancer pain. ⋯ For chronic non-cancer pain, the evidence base for the long-term use of opiates is mediocre, with weak support for minimal improvements in pain measures and little or no evidence for functional restoration. Much research and professional education in this field has been underwritten by commercial interests. Escalating the prescribing of opioids has been repeatedly linked to a myriad of individual and public harms, including overdose deaths. Many patients on long-term opioids may never be able to taper off them, despite their associated toxicities and lack of efficacy. Prescribers need familiarity with good opioid care practices for evidence-based indications. Outside these areas, in chronic non-cancer pain, the general practitioner needs to use time and diligence to implement risk mitigation strategies. However, if a GP believes chronic non-cancer pain management requires opioids, prescribing must be both selective and cautious to allow patients to maintain, or regain, control of their pain management.
-
Chronic refractory dyspnoea is defined as breathlessness daily for 3 months at rest or on minimal exertion where contributing causes have been treated maximally. Prevalent aetiologies include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, advanced cancer and interstitial lung diseases. ⋯ Dyspnoea is mostly multifactorial. Each reversible cause should be managed (Level 4 evidence). Non-pharmacological interventions include walking aids, breathing training and, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary rehabilitation (Level 1 evidence). Regular, low dose, sustained release oral morphine (Level 1 evidence) titrated to effect (with regular aperients) is effective and safe. Oxygen therapy for patients who are not hypoxaemic is no more effective than medical air. If a therapeutic trial is indicated, any symptomatic benefit is likely within the first 72 hours.
-
Neuropathic pain (NP) may result from a lesion, disease or dysfunction of the somatosensory system (peripheral or central nervous system). Examples include diabetic polyneuropathy, postherpetic and trigeminal neuralgias, spinal cord injury pain and painful radiculopathy. While general population surveys in the United Kingdom and France indicate a prevalence of 7-8%, information is scant in Australia, as the existence of NP may be subsumed within the diagnostic label of the associated condition.
-
Managing pain requires time and effort to attend to its biopsychosocial characteristics. This requires proper planning and a whole-of-practice approach. ⋯ It is helpful to have a consistent, whole-of-practice approach when a patient new to the practice presents with a compelling case for opioids. Assessing patients with chronic pain includes a full medical history and detailed examination according to a biopsychosocial approach and applying 'universal precautions' to make a misuse risk assessment. A management plan should consider a range of non-opioid modalities, with a focus on active rather than passive strategies. Integrated multidisciplinary pain services have been shown to improve pain and function outcomes for patients with complex chronic pain issues, but access is often limited. Time-limited opioid use is recommended with initial and regular monitoring, including pain and function scores, urine toxicology, compliance with regulatory surveillance systems and assessment for adverse reactions and drug related aberrant behaviours. When ceasing prescribing, opioids should be weaned slowly, except in response to violence or criminal activity.