Clinical pharmacology of analgesics and pain management
Pain management is part of the daily work of physicians in most medical disciplines. Likewise, the requirement that a patient's pharmacotherapy be safe, effective and reasonable permeates the physician's daily practice. But what does the phrase 'effective pharmacotherapy' mean, and what exactly might such effective therapy look like in the case of pain management? That is the subject of this lesson.
Note: Due to the national holiday on September 28, 2023, there will not be a class devoted to the topic of Drug Policy and Reasonable Prescribing. However, the above topics are closely related and therefore we recommend studying both relevant chapters of the pre-class reading.
Let's first study the relevant sections of the pre-class reading:
While reading the chapter on analgesics, you came across references to lectures. Please watch the videos below. The first covers the limits of the morphine milligram equivalents table, and the second covers the adverse effects of analgesics, the selection of analgesics in specific populations, and the management of analgesic therapy. Each of the videos is 20 minutes long. You will also find handouts of these video lectures below for note-taking, printing, or saving.
Handouts for the video lectures can be found here:
Test your knowledge after reading the pre-class reading chapters and listening to the complementary lectures. We know that preparation is challenging and there is a lot of information. That is why we have divided the tests by topic.
Try taking the test for one topic first and then the other.
And now you can look forward to the TBL lesson where we will cover reasonable prescribing of analgesics in the virtual patient.