Search Tag: opioids

2022 02 Aug

A new study suggests that the coming wave of opioid overdose deaths will be worse than ever and will not discriminate between rural and urban areas. Every area is expected to see a dramatic increase in opioid-involved overdose deaths.  According to the researchers, opioid overdoses have reached a historic high. This increase is primarily driven...Read more

2022 07 Jun

A team at Massachusetts General Hospital has designed a data-driven simulation model to help policymakers address the opioid crisis. The research is published in  PNAS .  Over the past 21 years, opioid overdose has caused over half a million deaths in the U.S. Opioid deaths have consistently increased since 2013 and claimed 70,000 victims in 2020...Read more

2021 09 Mar

The misuse of opioids is a major public health issue in many countries. Excessive use of opioids in the U.S. in particular, is primarily driven by pharmaceutical companies promoting the liberal use of opioids. Also, the American Pain Society describes pain as the fifth vital sign, which has resulted in a generous prescribing and widespread misuse of...Read more

2019 26 Nov

One danger from opioid use in pregnancy is that when babies are born, they suffer from drug withdrawal, or a group of conditions known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Moreover, exposure to opioids in utero is believed to have lasting consequences on brain development and behaviour. You might also like: How Blockchain is Fighting Opioid...Read more

2019 09 Jul

Patient-ventilator asynchrony is frequent during invasive mechanical ventilation. If patient-ventilator interaction is poor, it can prolong the duration of mechanical ventilation and can also result in longer ICU and hospital stay as well as increased mortality. It is thus important to optimise patient-ventilator interaction.  There are many factors...Read more

2019 11 Jun

Unmonitored opioid deaths at home after surgery. Primum Non Nocere. First, do no harm. These wise words form the basis of the oath sworn to our patients. With the vast array of treatment models, administration, and decisions in medicine today, this oath is more poignant than ever. Medical Errors are the third leading cause...Read more

2019 03 Jun

At this year’s Euroanaesthesia 2019 in Vienna, Austria, Prof. Caterina Aurilio (Naples, Italy), talked about acute pain management in the ICU. She started her presentation with the definition of pain as outlined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Pain is an "unnecessary sensory and emotional experience associated with actual...Read more

2019 30 May

According to a new study, opioids prescribed in the intensive care unit (ICU) do not drive risks for continued use or prescriptions. The findings were presented at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2019 International Meeting in Dallas, TX.   Opiate abuse is a major healthcare issue. In the U.S., opioid-related deaths have increased more than three-fold...Read more

2019 20 Mar

At the 39th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine , Prof. Hannah Wunsch , senior scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, talked about the use of opioids in the ICU and how it could be related to patient use of opioids after hospitalisation. She highlighted the importance of exploring the opioid prescribing...Read more

2019 14 Mar

Overview and focus on regional anaesthesia   Opioid dependency is a serious problem in the ICU. Opioids are effective at providing pain relief because they reduce the perception of the pain signal. At the same time, opioids are associated with respiratory depression, cough suppression, confusion, and drowsiness. In addition, there is a risk...Read more

2019 14 Mar

Reducing sedation and managing and treating pain are important objectives for clinicians. The primary goal should always be to promote the comfort of the patient and to minimise pain through the proper use of multimodal analgesia. The use of opioid drugs should be avoided unless absolutely necessary; and focus should be placed on achieving pain control...Read more

2018 13 Sep

Much has been said about blockchain's potential to enhance security of data management and sharing. Gartner has gone so far to say it's overhyped at the moment; yet IBM and other tech firms are bent on turning the promise of cryptographic ledger technology into real-world efficiencies in healthcare and beyond. Blockchain's growing list of innovative...Read more

2015 10 Sep

Results of an Israeli study indicate that ethnic differences, including during periods of armed conflicts, have no effect on pain treatment in children who visit the emergency departments with broken bones or joint dislocations. These paediatric patients with fracture or dislocation received equal pain treatment in the ED regardless of their ethnicity...Read more

2015 16 Apr

Bringing Connected Care and Enhancing Clinician Workflow from the Operating Room to the Medical and Surgical Unit Masimo announced the debut of Patient SafetyNet Series 5000™ along with Iris™ Connectivity and MyView™ through the Root ® patient monitoring and connectivity platform at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. This...Read more

2015 19 Jan

According to a white paper released by the National Institutes of Health, there is little or no evidence of the effectiveness of opioid drugs in the treatment of long-term chronic pain, despite the extensive growth in the use of these drugs. The paper states that many of the studies that have been used over the years to justify the use of opioid...Read more