Pain is a pervasive symptom present in multiple areas of medicine. It is imperative that physicians not only evaluate and diagnose the source of pain, but that they also recognize how to manage the actual pain symptoms with effective treatment. Handbook of Acute Pain Management is an essential reference for professionals to enhance their knowledge of pain therapies. Covering both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic approaches to treatment, this text provides updates on the most recent developments in the management of pain. This includes information on potential drug-drug and drug-disease interactions, patient controlled analgesia devices, and the emergence of continuous catheter techniques. The text also addresses pain management issues in special populations such as pediatric, opioid tolerant, and elderly patients.

Chronic pain is one of the most common and debilitating health care conditions, and among the most notoriously challenging to treat. Chronic non-cancer pain presents a significant burden to society in terms of lost workforce productivity and significant healthcare resource utilization and cost. Although controversies persist surrounding the use of opioid analgesics, consensus now exists among medical experts that they can be useful for carefully selected patients. Safe opioid prescribing, however, hinges on effective risk management. All clinicians who treat pain with opioids are obliged to implement therapy according to accepted principles of prescribing and to minimize the risk of misuse, abuse, addiction, and diversion through risk assessment and management strategies. Proper risk assessment allows for a care plan that is structured to optimize therapeutic outcomes while minimizing risks of potential opioid-related morbidities or problematic drug-related behaviors as effectively as possible. Opioid Management Tools and Tips provides health professionals with basic guidance, tools, and resources for identifying patients who may be at risk for opioid misuse and effective managing the risk of abuse, addiction, and diversion. This second edition contains updated guidelines on opioid selection as well as legal and regulatory resources.

Over the last thirty years, the concern of Pain Medicine practitioners about the potential for their patients to develop a dependence on opioids has left opioid therapy as a largely underutilized treatment. While there is no simple answer to chronic pain, opioids remain the only class of drugs capable of providing relief to patients experiencing serious pain. Opioid Therapy in the 21st Century, Second Edition fills a dearth of clinical knowledge about analgesics to aid practitioners in weighing the risks versus the benefits of opioid therapy for their chronic pain patients. Part of the Oxford American Pain Library, this concise guide serves as a practical, user-friendly reference for physicians across the range of primary care and medical specialties. It includes an overview of appropriate clinical applications of opioids, covering such topics as opioid pharmacology, route selection, and individualization of therapy, as well as strategies for managing and mitigating the risk of abuse, addiction, and diversion. There are also special sections dedicated to the unique needs of pediatric, geriatric, and palliative care patient populations. This second edition discusses opioids approved for use since publication of the first edition, such as Butrans (buprenorphine patch); fentanyl patch and nasal spray; abuse resistant version of Oxycontin; and Embeda (morphine sulfate). Approved indications for older opioids as well as clinical trial information have also been updated.

Fatigue is the most common and frequent symptom that people experience, yet the field of medicine has not paid all that much attention to it until the past decade or so. One can appreciate the relative lack of "coverage" for fatigue if one contrasts the number of texts on pain to the number of texts on fatigue. Isolating a patient's specific aetiology of fatigue may be exceptionally difficult because of a multitude of contributing factors which may be involved. This book examines the physiologic/pathophysiologic mechanisms, assessment and treatments of fatigue.

Essential Pain Pharmacology: The Prescriber's Guide expertly reviews the most important medications used to relieve pain, now considered by many physicians as the fifth vital sign. The catalogue of analgesics has expanded rapidly, and this text presents the most up-to-date, comprehensive array of agents available for prescribing. Each clear and concise drug entry covers the range of indications, advantages and disadvantages, and tips for appropriate dosing and avoiding adverse effects. A separate section covers nutraceuticals, a class of drug increasingly used to manage chronic pain, yet little discussed in medical literature. The detailed description of each medication enables the user to make quick and informed decisions, confident that they are best serving the needs of their patients. Practical 'pearls' for each entry provide a quick go-to reference for the key information to consider before prescribing. This concise user-friendly reference is a must-have on the shelf of every physician.