Articles: analgesics.
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In the last decades, several new and modern techniques have been developed for the continuous monitoring of vitals for patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia. These complex methods are meant to come as an adjunct to classical monitoring protocols used in general anesthesia to increase patient safety. The main objectives of multimodal monitoring are avoiding the over- or underdosing of anesthetic drugs, adapting the concentration for the substances in use, reducing post-anesthetic complications, and increasing patient comfort. Recent studies have shown a series of benefits with significant clinical impact such as a reduced incidence of nausea and vomiting, shorter reversal times, a reduction in opioid consumption, shorter hospital stays, and an increase in patient satisfaction.
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Patients with chronic pain experience stigma within the healthcare system. This stigma is compounded for those taking long-term prescription opioids. Often, public messaging and organizational policies have telegraphed that opioid treatment is a problem to be solved by focusing only on medication reduction efforts. ⋯ Targeting the needs of any stakeholder group in isolation is suboptimal. Accordingly, we detail the EMPOWER patient-centered opioid tapering clinical research framework and specific strategies to address stakeholder concerns. We also discuss how this framework may be applied to enhance engagement in healthcare research broadly.