Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Due to rising rates of opioid addiction and overdose among individuals on chronic opioid therapy, aberrant drug-related behaviors (ADRBs) are an important and challenging issue. Our objective was to qualitatively investigate the documentation of ADRBs in the medical record. ⋯ The impact of including emotional language in the medical record is unknown. Development of instruments that can be used to facilitate ADRB documentation, as well as evidence-based approaches to addressing ADRBs, is needed.
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Older patients with back pain are more likely to visit their general practitioner (GP) and are more likely to be prescribed analgesics. ⋯ In these older adults consulting their GP with back pain, 72% used analgesics at baseline. Despite a decrease in medication use during follow-up, at 3 and 6 months a considerable proportion still used analgesics.
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Ultrasound (US)-guided pain procedures become increasingly important due to their numerous advantages. Solid proficiency is necessary, however, to minimize complications and guarantee adequate performance. To enable beginners to learn the relevant skills in the technique of US-guided stellate ganglion (SGB) and intercostal nerve block (ICB), a training curriculum was developed and tested using self-made phantoms. ⋯ The combination of theoretical teaching, expert demonstration, and hands-on training on phantoms proved useful in acquiring skills needed for US-guided procedures such as SGB and ICB, and can potentially improve graduate and post-graduate medical education.