Chronic pain affects about 100 million American adults—more than the total affected by heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined. Pain also costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity. As with all aspects of health care, the practice of pain management is ever evolving. Regulatory concerns over medication and opioid prescribing, new technologies, understandings in multidisciplinary and multimodal care call for ongoing education to the health care provider. This timely seminar will focus on the importance of accurate assessment and multimodal management of both acute and chronic pain, through understanding of pain pathophysiology and mechanisms. Pain affects all aspects of health care, it is political, fear provoking and in many ways mysterious. Over the course of this well-defined, seminar the audience will learn how to differentiate between types of pain, offer the best evidence based treatments and be exposed to new innovative treatment approaches available today. Additional content will be presented on new, evolving technologies, including neuromodulation for pain management, auricular acupuncture and a broad exposure to behavioral and complementary treatments for pain management.

 

The street drug world is forever changing, and it is difficult to keep up. This talk will provide up-to-date information on new trends in street drugs, including the opioid crisis, new psychoactive substances, legal highs and viral trends. Throughout the presentation, we will identify street names, route, effects, side effects, overdose treatments and tips on how to diagnose and treat drug use.

Objectives:

• Review national and local trends in street drug use based on geographic, demographic and cultural influences. 
• Differentiate groups of street drugs and their intoxication effects, side effects, and treatment options.
• Review trends and current news about drug use, trafficking, paraphernalia and drug culture.

 

We only have so many tools in our pain pharmacology tool-box. Often, developing a patient care regimen can be challenging and requires not only creativity but extensive patient education. This brings up the question, do we really remember how each drug works, what the pros and cons of each drug are and what the appropriate expectations for therapy are? Once we are confident in this, how do we explain it to the patients in a way that will support their decision-making and success? This presentation is a deep dive into the non-opioid medications available for pain management and practical tips for patient conversations.

Objectives:

• Describe the benefits and components of a shared decision-making model. 
• Identify the mechanism of action of three non-opioid pain medications and translate this information into patient appropriate talking points. 
• Explain how coaching strategies can minimize decision making conflict in patients.

 

The goal of this presentation is to highlight the importance of identifying an accurate pain diagnosis in developing a beneficial and appropriate treatment plan, namely involving chronic opioid therapy. It will include a discussion on assessing for high-risk behaviors in the setting of chronic opioid therapy and how to employ proper risk mitigation strategies and screening to patients receiving chronic opioid therapy. A provider's point of view will be presented, including important clinical pearls.

Objectives:

• Highlight the importance of an accurate pain diagnosis in developing a beneficial and appropriate analgesic regimen. 
• Assess for high risk behaviors in the setting of chronic opioid therapy and employ proper risk mitigation strategies and screening. 
• Encourage a team based approach in managing complex patients on chronic opioid therapy.