Articles: acute-pain.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Aug 2021
Discharge from the trauma centre: exposure to opioids, unmet information needs and lack of follow up-a qualitative study among physical trauma survivors.
Physical trauma is associated with mortality, long-term pain and morbidity. Effective pain management is fundamental in trauma care and opioids are indispensable for treating acute pain; however, the use and misuse of prescribed opioids is an escalating problem. Despite this, few studies have been directed towards trauma patients in an early phase of rehabilitation with focusing on experiences and perspectives of health and recovery including pain and persistent use of prescribed opioids with abuse potential. To explore pre- and post-discharge trauma care experiences, including exposure to opioids, physical trauma survivors were recruited from a major trauma centre in Norway that provides the highest level of surgical trauma care. ⋯ The findings from this study suggest that in addition to delivery of high-quality biomedical trauma care, health professionals should direct more attention to psychosocial health and safe pain management, including post-discharge opioid tapering and individually tailored follow-up plans for physical trauma survivors.
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Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) face inconsistent effective analgesic management, leading to high inpatient healthcare utilization and significant financial burden for healthcare institutions. Current evidence does not provide guidance for inpatient management of acute pain in adults with sickle cell disease. We conducted a retrospective analysis of a longitudinal cohort quality improvement project to characterize the role of individualized care plans on improving patient care and reducing financial burden in high healthcare-utilizing patients with SCD-related pain. ⋯ Implementation of individualized care plans reduced both admission rate and financial burden of high utilizing patients. Importantly, pain outcomes were not diminished. Results suggest that individualized care plans are a promising strategy for managing acute pain crisis in adult sickle cell patients from both care-focused and utilization outcomes.