Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) require medical schools to teach their students how to recognize and work toward eliminating health disparities. However, time constraints and a dearth of guidance for educators in teaching pain disparities curricula pose significant challenges. Herein we describe successes and lessons learned after designing, implementing, and evaluating an innovative pain disparities curriculum that was embedded in a longitudinal health equity curriculum for third year medical school students at an academic institution. Although the curriculum was developed for medical school students, the concepts may be broadly applicable to other training settings such as residency and fellowship programs.
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Chronic pain and depression frequently co-occur and exacerbate one another; therefore, it is important to treat both conditions to improve patient outcomes. The current study evaluates an interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation program (IPRP) with respect to the following questions: 1) How do clinically elevated depressive symptoms impact pain-related treatment outcomes? and 2) To what extent does IPRP participation yield reliable and clinically significant change in depressed mood? ⋯ These findings support the assertion that IPRPs represent an effective treatment for patients with comorbid chronic pain and depression and that participation is associated with improvement in both conditions.
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To characterize the effects of Michigan's controlled substance legislation on acute care prescriber behavior by specialty, in a single hospital system. ⋯ The introduction of new regulatory requirements for the prescription of controlled substances led to a general decrease in morphine equivalent milligrams prescribed in most specialties, though it may have increased the dosage of benzodiazepine prescriptions. The change in prescription behavior could be motivated by regulatory hassle or by change in attitude towards opioid prescriptions and increased recognition of opioid use disorder.
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To explore the effectiveness and safety of three oral cannabinoid preparations (FM2®, Istituto farmaceutico militare, Firenze, Italy; Bedrocan®, Bedrocan International, Vandaam, Netherlands; and Bediol®, Bedrocan International, Vandaam, Netherlands) in the treatment of chronic migraine. ⋯ Oral cannabinoid preparations may have a role in reducing pain intensity and acute medication intake in patients with chronic migraine, but the magnitude of the effect seems modest; further studies are needed.