By Stephen Wood As a nurse practitioner in a busy suburban emergency department, pain is my job. Pain is one of the most common reasons people come to an emergency department (ED). It could be abdominal pain, chest pain, back pain or even emotional pain, including depression or suicidal ideations. Pain is a driver for…
In order for public health officials to appropriately understand and react to the widespread societal impact of the opioid epidemic, the data must first be reliable. To ensure accurate reporting of opioid-related deaths, there needs to be greater standardization among medical examiners and coroners when reporting accidental drug overdose deaths.
The purpose and the policies of an emergency department need to be redefined. We’re not emergency workers. We are public health providers.
By Ron Litman Most meetings of the FDA’s Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee (AADPAC) are held to review a New Drug Application (NDA), usually for a novel opioid preparation. But, on November 15, the AADPAC discussed the concept and implications of “opioid sparing” as a potential product label claim for a non-opioid type…
Recently, a nursing mother in Pennsylvania made national headlines when her infant died from ingesting a combination of fatal drugs through breastmilk. According to the coroner’s report, the infant died from a combination of methadone, methamphetamine, and amphetamine toxicity. The Bucks County District Attorney charged the mother, Samantha Jones, who also has a two-year old…
By Alexandra Slessarev At the end of September, the Senate passed a final version of an expansive legislative package designed to tackle the United States opioid epidemic. The package contains a broad range of policy approaches to the crisis, including enhanced tracking of fentanyl in the U.S. mail system, improved access to Medication Assisted Treatment and…
By Ron Litman The FDA’s Analgesic and Anesthetic Drug Advisory Committee (AADPAC), of which I am a member, met October 12 to discuss a controversial New Drug Application (NDA) for a powerful opioid called sufentanil, manufactured by AcelRx. Like fentanyl, sufentanil is a short-acting synthetic opioid, but approximately 5 to 10 times more potent. In…
By J. Alexander Short Pennsylvania is the latest state to enact legislation in reaction to the growing impact the opioid epidemic has on infants. Governor Tom Wolf signed H.B. 1232 in June, effectively requiring hospital officials to notify child protective services when children are born affected by the mother’s substance abuse or affected by withdrawal…
By Stephen Wood Medication Replacement Therapy (MRT), Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT). Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST). Opioid Replacement Therapy (ORT). Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT). This confusing array of acronyms are all terms that have made their way into the dictum of patients, healthcare providers, policy leaders, politicians and journalists —and new ones pop up every day. Buprenorphine…
By Chris Hutchison-Jones Is substance addiction a choice or a disease? In the recent ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in the case of the Commonwealth vs. Julie A Eldred judges had to consider this question. But they came to the wrong conclusion.
