Journal of pain and symptom management
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The construct "meaning in life" (MiL) has recently raised the interest of clinicians working in psycho-oncology and end-of-life care and has become a topic of scientific investigation. ⋯ These findings underscore the potential of the SMiLE for identifying areas that are particularly important to individuals, and that can be targeted by the PC team to improve overall life satisfaction at the end of life.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2010
State medical board members' attitudes about the legality of chronic prescribing to patients with noncancer pain: the influence of knowledge and beliefs about pain management, addiction, and opioid prescribing.
In the United States, physicians' practice is regulated at the state level, with medical board members distinguishing legitimate medical practice from unprofessional conduct. For this process to be effective, regulators should have knowledge and beliefs that conform to current standards of practice and medical understanding. Past research has demonstrated that some board members continue to view the prolonged prescribing of opioid analgesics to treat noncancer pain as being unlawful or unacceptable medical practice, especially when the patient with pain has a history of substance abuse. ⋯ Study results showed that the parsimonious regression models used in this study reasonably explained such attitudes. Suggestions were offered for achieving more comprehensive insight about the factors that can shape regulators' attitudes about prescribing legality.