Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
Opioid abuse in the United States and Department of Health and Human Services actions to address opioid-drug-related overdoses and deaths.
On March 26, 2015, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) published an online Issue Brief that addresses opioid abuse in the United States and (HHS) actions to address opioid-drug-related overdoses and deaths. This report, which contains the full content of the Issue Brief, is adapted from that document.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
Good state policy may not mean good pain care, but policy improvement offers hope for further progress: response to the Wahowiak article.
Lindsey Wahowiak's late-2014 article discussing the status of pain management in the United States references findings from the University of Wisconsin Pain & Policy Studies Group's (PPSG) policy evaluation reports as supporting her conclusions. This commentary clarifies that the PPSG reports do not gauge the extent of pain care in each state, but rather how they relate to the quality of policies governing such treatment. ⋯ Wahowiak's emphasis that influencing clinical pain outcomes is multifaceted and requires a multifaceted response. Importantly, policy change, along with its broad and continued communication and implementation, should be considered as only one of many crucial elements in providing quality pain management.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
Case ReportsA case of tardive dyskinesia in the last weeks of life.
Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a chronic and often irreversible movement disorder that usually evolves after years of neuroleptic use but can sometimes develop over a much shorter time frame. Paradoxically, a higher dose of the neuroleptic agent that causes TD can often temporarily suppress the movement disorder. ⋯ As his prognosis was only days to weeks, we were able to effectively suppress his TD with haloperidol. Hospice care emphasizes relief of suffering at the end of life, often at the expense of attention to long-range adverse effects, and this approach may be a viable management strategy for patients with TD and very limited prognosis.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
The epidemic of prescription opioid abuse, the subsequent rising prevalence of heroin use, and the federal response.
Opioids are a mainstay in the treatment of pain both chronically and acutely. In the past 20 years, the prescribing of opioids has increased exponentially. ⋯ Federal initiatives to mount war on prescription opioid abuse are reviewed, including responses from the White House, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and interagency initiatives. Many initiatives are currently in place to combat the rising rates of morbidity and mortality associated with opioids, and those involved are hopeful in their efforts to curb the epidemic of this deadly phenomenon.