PHARMACIST STEVE

Pharmacotherapy options for noncancer pain: an efficacy review http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/pain-management-information-center/treating-noncancer-pain-with-acetaminophen-nsaids-instead-of-opioids/article/487282/ Strong opioids are no more effective than acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in patients with musculoskeletal disease and other forms of noncancer pain, according to a review published in Joint Bone Spine.1 Strong opioids, including morphine, fentanyl, and oxycodone, have been on the top step […]

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Obama Sets Task Force to Ensure Access to Addiction Tx President warns about possible mandatory provider training http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Addictions/57016 ATLANTA — Noting that the opioid abuse and heroin epidemic “is affecting everybody — young, old, men, women, [and] children,” President Obama launched a federal task force Tuesday to address the issue. The Mental Health and Substance […]

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Walgreens Pharmacist Intervention Proven to Improve Adherence to New Therapy http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/walgreens-pharmacist-intervention-proven-to-improve-adherence-to-new-therapy Walgreens’ community pharmacist intervention program boosts medication adherence rates and lowers related costs for patients with a wide range of chronic diseases, a recent study demonstrated.   This intervention program includes in-pharmacy patient counseling, medication therapy management (MTM), and online and digital refill reminders. […]

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www.livesupportgroup.com Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue affects some 6 million people in the USA with the vast majority being women. I have been participating in some of the Live Support Groups (LGS)  chronic pain weekly meetings for the last few months.  On April 14th at 8:00 PM (EDT) LSG will inaugurate  a new weekly group for […]

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The procedure was successful.. the pt died of complications ? I logged on thinking I’d delete some of my “rants” and posts about people being denied pain medicine. Instead I read that a 70 year old man, on blood thinners for a heart condition, was told to take ibuprofen for post-surgical hip pain; told those […]

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Golden Rule: In memory of Robert ‘Bob’ Mason http://helenair.com/news/opinion/golden-rule/article_b5ad0c5d-ef3e-59d4-9921-9b8eb3bd31e5.html Last week, like many other recently, saw a couple of twists and turns in the “ongoing saga” of “embattled” Helena physician Mark Ibsen. On Tuesday, the state board of medical examiners indefinitely suspended his medical license on the grounds of failure to meet standards of care […]

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A physician’s open letter to Medicare patients http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2015/11/a-physicians-open-letter-to-medicare-patients.html#comments Dear patients, This is a hard letter to write, but it is important that you know about a major change that is coming for both of us in 2017, just a short year away. As you recall, last year I left a large hospital group practice and […]

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Your suffering/pain management – or lack of pain management – during your hospitalization should not be a measurement of patient satisfaction about their care in the hospital ? March 28, 2016 The Honorable Sylvia Mathews Burwell Secretary, Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Dear Madam Secretary: Prescription drug […]

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Thousands of drug users are rescuing one another with antidote naloxone https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/thousands-of-drug-users-are-saving-each-other-with-antidote-naloxone/2015/11/22/d1f2e408-87df-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html?tid=a_inl BALTIMORE — Deep into a three-day heroin binge at a local hotel, Samantha told the newbie he was shooting too much. He wasn’t accustomed to heroin, she said, and hadn’t waited long enough since his last injection. “But he didn’t listen,” she said. […]

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