Introduction: Although safety climate, teamwork, and other non-technical skills in operating rooms probably influence clinical outcomes, direct associations have not been shown, at least partially due to sample size considerations. We report data from a retrospective cohort of anesthesia evaluations that can simplify the design of prospective observational studies in this area. Associations between non-technical skills in anesthesia, specifically anesthesiologists' quality of clinical supervision and nurse anesthetists' work habits, and patient and operational factors were examined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMovement pain, which is distinct from resting pain, is frequently reported by individuals with musculoskeletal pain. There is growing interest in measuring movement pain as a primary outcome in clinical trials, but no minimally clinically important change (MCIC) has been established, limiting interpretations. We analyzed data from 315 participants who participated in previous clinical trials (65 with chronic Achilles tendinopathy; 250 with fibromyalgia) to establish an MCIC for movement pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBayesian analyses are becoming more popular as a means of analyzing data, yet the Bayesian approach is novel to many members of the broad clinical audience. While Bayesian analyses are foundational to anesthesia pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling, they also can be used for analyzing data from clinical trials or observational studies. The traditional null hypothesis significance testing (frequentist) approach uses only the data collected from the current study to make inferences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Physical activity positively affects health. Although 94% of Americans know the health benefits of regular physical activity, more than 75% do not achieve recommended levels. The objective of our study was to identify and define the key components of a physical activity intervention tailored to rural American men.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic pain affects more than 50 million Americans. Treatments remain inadequate, in large part, because the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of chronic pain remain poorly understood. Pain biomarkers could potentially identify and measure biological pathways and phenotypical expressions that are altered by pain, provide insight into biological treatment targets, and help identify at-risk patients who might benefit from early intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of physical therapy delivered via an all telehealth or hybrid format with an all in-person format on movement-evoked pain for individuals with chronic Achilles tendinopathy (AT).
Methods: Sixty-six individuals with chronic AT participated (age, 43.4 [SD = 15.
Exercise is the standard of care for Achilles tendinopathy (AT), but 20% to 50% of patients continue to have pain following rehabilitation. The addition of pain science education (PSE) to an exercise program may enhance clinical outcomes, yet this has not been examined in patients with AT. Furthermore, little is known about how rehabilitation for AT alters the fear of movement and central nervous system nociceptive processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a nonpharmacological intervention that provides an electrical current through the skin to produce analgesia. The primary purpose of this study is to examine if the addition of TENS to routine physical therapy improves movement-evoked pain in individuals with fibromyalgia in a physical therapy clinical setting.
Methods: Fibromyalgia TENS in Physical Therapy Study is a phase III embedded pragmatic clinical trial funded through the National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-Term Initiative.
Purpose: The current study aimed to identify patients presenting with acute pain who may be at risk for a complicated trajectory, via identifying clusters of early opioid prescribing patterns.
Methods: National Veterans Affairs administrative data were utilized to build a cohort of outpatients with acute pain presentations and no more than minimal opioid use in the prior year. Latent Class Analyses (LCAs) identified clusters of early opioid prescribing patterns.
Chronic pain has become a global health problem contributing to years lived with disability and reduced quality of life. Advances in the clinical management of chronic pain have been limited due to incomplete understanding of the multiple risk factors and molecular mechanisms that contribute to the development of chronic pain. The Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS) Program aims to characterize the predictive nature of biomarkers (brain imaging, high-throughput molecular screening techniques, or "omics," quantitative sensory testing, patient-reported outcome assessments and functional assessments) to identify individuals who will develop chronic pain following surgical intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine how often urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS) patients progressed from Pelvic Pain Only at baseline to Widespread Pain, or vice versa, during 1-year longitudinal follow-up.
Methods: Men and women with UCPPS enrolled in the MAPP-I Epidemiology and Phenotyping Study completed a self-report body map to indicate their locations of pain every 2 months over 12 months. Patients were categorized at each assessment into one of three pain phenotypes: (1) Pelvic Pain Only, (2) an Intermediate group, (3) Widespread Pain.
Patients undergoing thoracic surgery experience particular challenges for acute pain management. Availability of standardized diagnostic criteria for identification of acute pain after thoracotomy and video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) would provide a foundation for evidence-based management and facilitate future research. The Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks (ACTTION) public-private partnership with the United States Food and Drug Administration, the American Pain Society (APS), and the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) formed the ACTTION-APS-AAPM Pain Taxonomy (AAAPT) initiative to address absence of acute pain diagnostic criteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Define and contrast acute pain trajectories vs. the aggregate pain measurements, summarize appropriate linear and nonlinear statistical analyses for pain trajectories at the patient level, and present methods to classify individual pain trajectories. Clinical applications of acute pain trajectories are also discussed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Achilles tendinopathy (AT) rehabilitation traditionally includes progressive tendon loading exercises. Recent evidence suggests a biopsychosocial approach that incorporates patient education on psychosocial factors and mechanisms of pain can reduce pain and disability in individuals with chronic pain. This is yet to be examined in individuals with AT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContemp Clin Trials
November 2020
Background: New approaches are needed to better monitor blood pressure (BP) between physician visits, especially for patients in rural areas or for those who lack transportation. We have developed a custom-built bi-directional texting platform for home BP measurements that can then be managed by clinical pharmacists located remotely. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the BP texting approach combined with a pharmacist-based intervention improves BP management and to determine if the approach is cost effective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Opioid use has increased to epidemic levels over the past decade within the United States, particularly among vulnerable populations. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate rates of prolonged opioid use in the Veteran population after thoracic surgery and identify specific risk clusters.
Methods: Veterans Administration data on patients who underwent thoracic surgery between January 1, 2006 and September 30, 2015 included preoperative opioid use information for stratification of patients to preoperative chronic opioid use (PCOU; n = 16,612) versus patients without preoperative chronic opioid use (WPCOU; n = 2,328).
J Gen Intern Med
September 2020
Background: Narrow definitions of long-term opioid (LTO) use result in limited knowledge of the full range of LTO prescribing patterns and the rates of these patterns.
Objective: To investigate a model of new LTO prescribing typologies using latent class analysis.
Design: National administrative data from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse were accessed using the VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure.
Importance: One major advantage of developing large, federally funded networks for clinical research in neurology is the ability to have a trial-ready network that can efficiently conduct scientifically rigorous projects to improve the health of people with neurologic disorders.
Observations: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT) was established in 2011 and renewed in 2018 with the goal of being an efficient network to test between 5 and 7 promising new agents in phase II clinical trials. A clinical coordinating center, data coordinating center, and 25 sites were competitively chosen.
Study Objective: Evaluation of faculty anesthesiologists' clinical supervision is psychometrically reliable. Supervision scores often are used for ongoing professional practice and teaching evaluations. We evaluated whether anesthesiologists' clinical supervision rank could be determined reliably using 6- vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Use of regional anesthesia can result in faster recovery and better patient satisfaction. Addition of perineural adjuncts to local anesthetics may improve the duration of analgesia, but there is a paucity of data comparing them in a single randomized trial. We compared the effects of three adjuncts clonidine, dexamethasone, and buprenorphine, on the duration of analgesia of interscalene brachial plexus block.
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