Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Tapering Opioid Prescription Program for High-Risk Trauma Patients: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.
Chronic opioid use has been documented in up to 20% of patients with traumatic injuries. Hence, we developed the Tapering Opioids Prescription Program for high-risk Trauma (TOPP-Trauma) patients. ⋯ Some challenges need to be addressed before testing TOPP-Trauma. These include creating strategies to decrease attrition, offering the program throughout the care continuum to higher risk patients, and evaluating the impacts of reduced opioid use.
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This narrative review sought to explore the main critical issues in the assessment of depression in chronic pain and to identify self-report tools that can be reliably used for measuring it. ⋯ Nurses play an important role in screening for depression. Cognitive contents of depression should be carefully evaluated since somatic symptoms may be confusing in the chronic pain context. Some self-reports may be useful for rapid screening. It is also advisable to consider other relevant patient information in evaluating depression.
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Chronic pain management is a major challenge for primary care providers (PCPs). PCPs manage many patients with chronic pain and other comorbidities including mental health problems like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Chronic pain and opioid problems are a national crisis, particularly among veterans (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2019). There are many veterans with chronic non-cancer pain who are being treated with opioids. Chronic opioid use has contributed to an epidemic of opioid-related adverse events (VA, 2017). Opioids not only result in poor pain control, but have associated risks such as misuse, overdose, and diversion which may be fatal (Frieden & Houry, 2016). ⋯ APRNs are in a key position to assess and treat patients based on current evidence while facilitating opioid titration. This initiative highlights that safe tapering of opioids is possible when utilizing a multidisciplinary approach for chronic pain management. Findings support the use of non-pharmacologic and non-opioid therapy for chronic pain management which can result in reduced patient-reported pain. Further research is warranted to examine both pharmacologic (non-opioid) and non-pharmacologic strategies that promote pain management while tapering opioids.
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Presurgical and Postsurgical Opioid Rates in Patients Undergoing Total Shoulder Replacement Surgery.
The purpose of this study was to describe the pre- and postsurgical opioid prescription rates and average morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day in patients undergoing total shoulder replacement (TSR) procedures. ⋯ Although presurgical non-opioid patients were more likely to receive a postsurgical opioid prescription, based on dosage, most patients were at low risk for an opioid-related overdose or death according to CDC guidelines.
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To explore how health care providers in the United States are adapting clinical recommendations and prescriptive practices in response to patient use of medical cannabis (MC) for chronic pain symptoms. ⋯ MC use for chronic pain is increasing with cannabis legalization. Provider practices are heterogenous, demonstrating a balance of treating chronic pain using available evidence, while being aware of potential harms associated with MC and opioids.