Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Evidence suggests that patient characteristics such as sex, race, and age influence the pain management decisions of health care providers. Although this signifies that patient demographics may be important determinants of health care decisions, pain-related care also may be impacted by the personal characteristics of the health care practitioner. However, the extent to which health care provider characteristics affect pain management decisions is unclear, underscoring the need for further research in this area. ⋯ These findings suggest that pain assessment and treatment decisions may be impacted by the health care providers' demographic characteristics, effects which may contribute to pain management disparities. Future research is warranted to determine whether findings replicate in other health care disciplines and medical conditions, and identify other practitioner characteristics (e.g., culture) that may affect pain management decisions.
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The use of adjuvants in regional anesthesia has increased. However, there are knowledge gaps pertaining to 1) in vivo local tissue effects of these adjuvants; and 2) chemical compatibility and solubility of these drugs in solution with each other and with local anesthetics. This study addresses these gaps in knowledge. ⋯ Four-drug single-injection formulations are described that 1) had compatible and stable concentrations in solution; and 2) produced reversible nerve block without causing long-term motor or sensory deficits or damage to sciatic nerves/dorsal root ganglia.