Pain physician
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The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged and has challenged us to look for alternatives to bring about a paradigm shift in interventional chronic pain management. As the disease lowers the body's immune system, the use of medications that suppress the immune system are not recommended during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ The future of interventional pain practice is trending toward regenerative medicine and genetic research. Numerous scientific studies have been conducted to investigate the genetic basis of phenotypic variability in individuals with different ethnic groups in terms of susceptibility to chronic pain, as well as response to treatment for the personalized medicine model. Despite the preliminary data on genetic variations, there is no evidence for the use of a pharmacogenomics-based approach to personalized medicine for patients with chronic pain. The field of medicine therefore needs further research in pharmacogenetics, including large-scale prospective studies that focus on pain pathways. However, recent research, including larger studies and larger-scale genomic perspectives, may yield more promising findings in the future. The COVID-19 pandemic proved the need for medications with the most impact and least complications.
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While the COVID-19 pandemic still rages on in the United States, leaving in its wake hundreds of thousands of infected patients, families shattered by the untimely death of their loved ones, an economy in free fall that hit all-time highs barely a few months ago, and a fearful citizenry unsure of what the future holds, the effect it has had on residency and fellowship training programs across the country may appear inconsequential to the general populace. However, if you are a graduating trainee confronted with this unusual set of circumstances, fear of the virus is not the only thing that is foremost in your mind. ⋯ A narrative review with paucity of literature.
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Comparative Study Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Comparing the Safety and Effectiveness of Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation on Genicular Nerve, Intraarticular Pulsed Radiofrequency with Steroid Injection in the Pain Management of Knee Osteoarthritis.
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is characterized by the clinical symptoms of chronic knee pain and knee dysfunction, leading to disability and influencing the quality of life in severe cases. Radiofrequency treatment is a new method to reduce KOA-related pain and partially improve knee joint dysfunction without adverse effect. ⋯ This study was a single-center retrospective study with a relatively small sample cohort and short follow-up periodCONCLUSION: Both RFTGN and IAPRF could alleviate the knee joint pain and improve the knee joint dysfunction; however, the treatment efficacy of RFTGN was better than that of IAPRF.
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Chronic pain patients require continuity of care even during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has drastically changed healthcare and other societal practices. The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) has created the COVID-ASIPP Risk Mitigation & Stratification (COVID-ARMS) Return to Practice Task Force in order to provide guidance for safe and strategic reopening. ⋯ Chronic pain patients require continuity of care but during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, steps must be taken to stratify risks and protect patients from possible infection to safeguard them from COVID-19-related illness and transmitting the disease to others. Pain specialists should optimize telemedicine encounters with their pain patients, be cognizant of risks of COVID-19 morbidity, and take steps to evaluate risk-benefit on a case-by-case basis. Pain specialists may return to practice with lower-risk patients and appropriate safeguards.
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Burnout has been a commonly discussed issue for the past ten years among physicians and other health care workers. A survey of interventional pain physicians published in 2016 reported high levels of emotional exhaustion, often considered the most taxing aspect of burnout. Job dissatisfaction appeared to be the leading agent in the development of burnout in pain medicine physicians in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected the entire health care workforce and interventional pain management, with other surgical specialties, has been affected significantly. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed several physical and emotional stressors on interventional pain management physicians and this may lead to increased physician burnout. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic has put interventional pain practices throughout the United States under considerable financial and psychological stress. It is essential to quantify the extent of economic loss, offer strategies to actively manage provider practice/wellbeing, and minimize risk to personnel to keep patients safe.