Articles: opioid.
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To identify changes in opioid prescribing across a diverse array of medical specialties after the release of the 2016 CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. ⋯ These results illustrate that clinicians likely to provide primary care exhibited the greatest decreases in opioid dispensing. However, specialties outside the scope of the CDC Guideline (e.g., surgery) also exhibited accelerated decreases in prescribing. These declines illustrate that specialties beyond primary care could have interest in evaluating opioid prescribing practices, supporting the importance of specialty-specific guidance that balances the individualized risks and benefits of opioids and the role of non-opioid treatments.
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Fentanyl is selected to manage pain in critical care patients on mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, the usefulness of fentanyl compared with other opioids is unknown. This study examined the evidence for using fentanyl to improve the clinical outcomes of ICU patients, using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. ⋯ Although fentanyl is a frequently administered opioid in the ICU, patients' outcomes are not different between fentanyl use and use of other opioids. However, the GRADE evaluation provides little certainty to support the results of this systematic review. Therefore, further large RCTs are required to confirm our conclusions.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Development and Testing of a Communication Intervention to Improve Chronic Pain Management in Primary Care: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.
Effective communication skills are essential for optimally managing chronic pain and opioids. This exploratory, sequential mixed methods study tested the effect of a novel framework designed to improve pain-related communication and outcomes. ⋯ This study developed a novel framework and intervention for teaching clinician pain-related communications skills. Although the intervention showed promise, more intensive or multicomponent interventions may be needed to have a significant impact on clinicians' pain-related communication and pain outcomes.