This week’s must reads focus on patient safety tools.
This week in #patientsafety, PPAHS announced our position that all patients receiving opioids must be monitored with capnography. From around the web, the American Journal of Nursing summarized venous thromboembolism (blood clots) guidelines from American College of Chest Physicians, Ontario released a dataset and tool to explore opioid-related morbidity and mortality, and Pain Medicine News discussed a researcher’s exploration of alternatives to opioids.
From PPAHS:
Patients Receiving Opioids Must Be Monitored With Continuous Electronic Monitoring. Respiration can rapidly decelerate under the influence of opioids, sometimes in a matter of minutes. By the time a patient experiencing opioid-induced respiratory depression is visited again, it can be too late to intervene. As a result, PPAHS strongly recommends the use of continuous electronic monitoring for all patients receiving opioids.
From Around the Web:
CE: Venous Thromboembolism: Updated Management Guidelines. This article presents an overview of venous thromboembolism—including its pathophysiology, risk factors, symptoms, and key clinical assessments—and summarizes recommendations from the new American College of Chest Physicians guideline.
Opioid-related morbidity and mortality in Ontario. The Interactive Opioid Tool allows users to explore the most recent opioid-related morbidity and mortality data including emergency department visits, hospitalizations and deaths. Results can be viewed by public health unit, local health integration network, age, sex, and in some cases, drug type.
Beyond Opioids: Surgeons Explore New Approaches To Pain Control. A psychologist is heading a trial that randomly assigns breast cancer patients to a preoperative plan that includes an educational video intervention or a plan that recommends general online health information. The researchers hope they will be able to demonstrate that a free online intervention targeting distress management will improve patient outcomes by reducing pain.