Journal of opioid management
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To determine the utility of the screener and opioid assessment for patients with pain-revised (SOAPP-R) for patients with cancer-related pain. ⋯ The SOAPP-R, in its current form, may have value in screening patients with cancer for substance abuse. Incorporation of the screening tool in palliative and oncology settings may help reduce opioid abuse in cancer patients.
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Opioid tapering may be necessary for patients on long-term opioids. Here, the authors presented a patient who had uncontrolled chronic musculoskeletal pain while on chronic methadone. ⋯ Using multidisciplinary interventions of patient education and counseling, physical interventions, and nonopioid medications, patient's methadone was discontinued after longer than one year tapering with relatively good pain control. The tapering process highlights the importance of pain management during opioid tapering using multidisciplinary interventions to prevent and treat opioid withdrawal and pain relapses.
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Increasing opioid-related deaths have heightened focus on combating the opioid epidemic. The impact of surgical trainees on opioid-related deaths is unclear, and there is little data examining the association between trainee pain management education and opioid prescribing practices. ⋯ In this survey, nearly two-thirds of surgical residents felt that they were inadequately trained in opioid pre-scribing. Our findings additionally suggest that improving education may result in increased resident comfort with man-aging surgical pain, potentially leading to more responsible opioid prescribing. Further work will facilitate residency pro-grams' development of educational curricula for opioid prescribing best practices.