Tag: opioids
Did I Start the Opioid Epidemic?
Prescription opioid abuse is at epidemic levels. Opioids diverted from friends and family members who have legitimate prescriptions are a major source of abused prescription opioids. Nurses are vital to any effort to combat... read more
Health Canada Eyes Opioid Restrictions for Popular Painkiller
Health Canada has launched a review of the increasingly popular pharmaceutical drug tramadol – a move that could prompt the department to reverse its controversial, decade-old decision not to classify the medication as... read more
Opioid use to worse outcomes in C. difficile
A study presented at the World Congress of Gastroenterology found that patients being prescribed opioids who also have Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) have higher peak white blood cell counts, higher creatinine elevations,... read more
Increased ICU Costs for Opioid Overdoses
ICU costs for treating opioid overdose patients increased 58% in a seven-year span, and annual deaths almost doubled, according to a study that included 162 academic hospitals. ICU admissions increased 34% over the study... read more
Prescribed Morphine Milligram Equivalents of Opioids by County
Despite reductions in opioid prescribing in some parts of the USA, the amount of opioids prescribed remains high relative to 1999 levels and varies substantially at the county-level. Given associations between opioid prescribing,... read more
Drug might alleviate post-surgical delirium and confusion
To blunt postoperative pain and reduce the need for opioid drugs following surgery, anesthesiologists often give patients low doses of the drug ketamine during operations. Recent research even suggests that the drug might... read more
Buprenorphine for the Treatment of the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Current pharmacologic treatment of the neonatal abstinence syndrome with morphine is associated with a lengthy duration of therapy and hospitalization. Buprenorphine may be more effective than morphine for this indication.... read more
Opioid-Related Overdoses And Deaths Are On The Rise In The ICU
The rate of opioid hospitalizations and overdose deaths has only gotten worse in the past few years, new research finds.... read more
