Staff News Writer American Medical Association About 40 percent of physicians are likely to marry another physician or health professional, according to an AMA Insurance Agency Inc. survey of nearly 5,000 doctors. And with about half of physicians reporting at least one symptom of burnout, that means many dual physician households have a heightened risk […]

Authors: MIKE STOBBE The U.S. cancer death rate has hit a milestone: It’s been falling for at least 25 years, according to a new report. Lower smoking rates are translating into fewer deaths. Advances in early detection and treatment also are having a positive impact, experts say. But it’s not all good news. Obesity-related cancer deaths […]

Sufentanil sublingual tablets (SST) may be effective for the short-term postoperative or emergency department (ED) management of moderate to severe pain in patients with all body mass index (BMI) levels, according to a study to be presented at the 2018 World Congress on Pain in Boston, Massachusetts. Investigators recently submitted a New Drug Application for SST 30 […]

Authors: Michael S Calderwood et al BMJ Dec 2018 Background Quality improvement (QI) campaigns appear to increase use of evidence-based practices, but their effect on health outcomes is less well studied. Objective To assess the effect of a multistate QI campaign (Project JOINTS, Joining Organizations IN Tackling SSIs) that used the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Rapid Spread […]

Alexander J. Butwick, MBBS, FRCA, MS et al  JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(8) Question  Does the prevalence of neuraxial labor analgesia vary across US states? Findings  In this population-based, cross-sectional analysis of 2 625 950 pregnant women who underwent labor, Maine had the lowest adjusted neuraxial analgesia prevalence (36.6%) and Nevada the highest (80.1%). The odds of receiving neuraxial analgesia were 1.5-fold higher […]

Authors: De Gregorio, Danilo et al PAIN: January 2019 – Volume 160 – Issue 1 – p 136–150 Clinical studies indicate that cannabidiol (CBD), the primary nonaddictive component of cannabis that interacts with the serotonin (5-HT)1A receptor, may possess analgesic and anxiolytic effects. However, its effects on 5-HT neuronal activity, as well as its impact on models of neuropathic pain are […]

Author: Will Boggs MD JAMA Pediatr  Dec 28 2018. Intranasal ketamine is noninferior to intranasal fentanyl at relieving pain in children with acute extremity injuries, a new study found. “We were happy to discover similar results to the two other prior pediatric trials and pleasantly surprised to see how similar the rates of rescue analgesia were […]

aUTJOHRS: Munoz-Price LS, et al. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 2019, 40, 1–17. Purpose The potential for clinically significant microbial cross transmission in the intraoperative environment poses a threat to patient safety. A growing body of literature has shown contamination in the anesthesia work area, including the anesthesia medical work cart, stopcocks, laryngeal masks and laryngoscope blades, […]

Authors: Lisa M. Schwartz, MD, MS et al  JAMA. 2019;321(1):80-96. Key Points Question  How has the marketing of prescription drugs, disease awareness, health services, and laboratory tests in the United States changed from 1997 through 2016? Findings  From 1997 through 2016, medical marketing expanded substantially, and spending increased from $17.7 to $29.9 billion, with direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs and […]

Clinicians should get their patients tested for drugs before prescribing them opioid or benzodiazepine medications—and on a regular basis when patients are on those drugs—as drug-drug interactions may be associated with risks, according to a study presented during the 2018 PAINWeek conference. “Opioid-related morbidity and mortality are well recognized issues in the United States, but unlike opioid prescribing, […]