Pain Management A devastating medication error that impacted four surgical patients at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown in Nashville, Tenn., received a large amount of mainstream media attention over the last week—reminding perioperative leaders of the critical importance of medication safety protocols. CBS News affiliate WTVF-TV reported that “at least four people went…
Over a dozen surgical organizations today urged CMS to ensure that its episode-based payment models support the use of non-opioid pain management therapies. The request was made in a letter to CMS Deputy Administrator Abe Sutton that was led by Voices for Non-Opioid Choices, “a nonpartisan coalition that works to…
The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) and over a dozen other organizations today urged CMS to ensure that its episode-based payment models support the use of non-opioid pain management therapies. The request was made in a letter to CMS Deputy Administrator Abe Sutton that was led by Voices for Non-Opioid…
A recent retrospective cohort study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons finds that postoperative opioid prescribing for pediatric surgery patients “remains a modifiable source of harm” while noting that “procedure-specific national prescribing patterns, inter-hospital variability, and high-yield stewardship targets are not well defined.” Using 2023 data…
Much of the discussion and research on opioid-sparing postoperative pain management has centered on orthopedics and spine procedures, where opioid prescriptions have in many cases been successfully reduced or even eliminated in favor of nerve blocks and multimodal pain relief strategies. Now a major Canadian research project has examined the…
The first surgery was performed at the new DISC Surgery Center at Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Fla., last week by Founding Surgeon and Medical Director Jason M. Cuéllar, M.D., Ph.D.—a minimally invasive lumbar foraminotomy on an active 82-year-old who had been limited by radiating low back pain caused…
CPIhealth (CPI), an interventional pain management platform, has acquired Midwest Interventional Spine Specialists (M.I.S.S.) and Serenity Surgical Center. CPI says the move enables it to expand its provision of “advanced pain treatments and comprehensive care” to northwest Indiana and nearby Chicago suburbs in Illinois. The partnership adds two clinics and…
If you suspect patients who have undergone orthopedics and other procedures at your facility aren’t doing their postoperative physical therapy (PT) homework as much as they should be, a new survey by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center not only will confirm those suspicions but will put an eye-popping…
An article published in STAT this week asks this simple but devastating question: “When IV opioids are in short supply at the hospital, who gets pain relief?” “When there is not enough pain medicine to go around, who gets it? The teenager in agony after a crushed leg, or the…
