AMERSA, Author at AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words: Person First and Patient First: Tailoring Language to Individual Patient Needs

Nov 15, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Person First and Patient First: Tailoring Language to Individual Patient Needs

Jasleen Salwan, MD, MPH

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 2, 2019

“The Commentary, Person First and Patient First: Tailoring Language to Individual Patient Needs, aims to foster dialogue on patient-centered language in addiction. Person-first language, which positions the person literally before the disease, has been shown to humanize and empower people living with addiction. Many experts have called for the exclusive use of person-first language and have argued that terms like “addict” or “alcoholic” should be removed from the provider’s lexicon. However, confusion can arise when individuals use these terms to describe themselves, or when groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous encourage members to own certain identities as a part of their healing process. It is the author’s hope that this commentary will stir conversation on the nuances of patient-centered language.“

The Authors’ Own Words: The Problem of Pain: Additive Analgesic Effect of Tramadol and Buprenorphine in a Patient with Opioid Use Disorder

Nov 14, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

The Problem of Pain: Additive Analgesic Effect of Tramadol and Buprenorphine in a Patient with Opioid Use Disorder

Cristina Montalvo, MD, MBS; Nicolas Genovese, BA; & John Renner, MD

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 2, 2019

“The treatment of severe pain in patients on long term buprenorphine therapy for opioid dependence remains an ongoing challenge for clinicians across the country. When non-pharmacological and non-opioid treatments prove ineffective, additional opioid medication is often the last remaining option for these patients. However, due to the traditional understanding of buprenorphine’s pharmacokinetics and its strong affinity for analgesic opioid receptors, the efficacy of any additional opioid medication chosen by clinicians would expectedly be reduced. Coupled with the dearth of academic literature examining appropriate adjuvant medication for those on buprenorphine treatment, this decision facing many clinicians begins to seem insurmountable. In this manuscript, we show that our patient had a significant decrease in his pain and an improvement in his daily functioning with the addition of tramadol to his medication regiment while maintained on his opioid agonist therapy, and it highlights a novel and effective treatment option available to clinicians in the management of pain for those on buprenorphine therapy. Further, our manuscript creates a paradigm for future studies to compare tramadol’s efficacy in pain management compared to other opioid and non-opioid analgesics for those on long-term buprenorphine therapy.“

The Authors’ Own Words: A Qualitative Analysis of Interprofessional Students’ Perceptions towards Patients with Opioid Use Disorder after a Patient Panel Experience

Nov 14, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

A Qualitative Analysis of Interprofessional Students’ Perceptions towards Patients with Opioid Use Disorder after a Patient Panel Experience

Luba Dumenco, MD MEHP; Kristina Monteiro, PhD, Sally Collins, BA; Cynthia Stewart, RN BSN; Laureen Berkowitz, PA-C; Timothy Flanigan, MD; Josiah Rich, MD; & Paul George, MD MHPE

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 2, 2019

“We believe that this manuscript is appropriate for publication by Substance Abuse due to the innovation and interdisciplinary aspects of this educational experience. We believe that our patient panel experience can be generalized to other health professional institutions to promote increased humanistic attitudes and decrease stigma in working with patients with substance use disorders.“

Substance Abuse journal Volume 40 | Issue 1

Nov 13, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words for Volume 40, Issue 1 have come to end. We really enjoyed getting the chance to read some insights from some of the authors themselves.

You can read the entire issue now! Substance Abuse journal, Vol. 40, Iss. 1

It was a lot of fun revisiting this issue. This issue was packed with some of the best editorials, reviews, commentaries, reports, and research that our field has to offer!

The most viewed pieces of work in this issue were:

1. Opioid discontinuation as an institutional mandate: Questions and answers on why we wrote to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Stefan G. Kertesz MSc, MD, Sally L. Satel MD, James DeMicco PharmD, Richard C. Dart MD, PhD & Daniel P. Alford MD, MPH

with 2326 views (and counting!)

2. Understanding the implications of the “vaping epidemic” among adolescents and young adults: A call for action

Nicholas Chadi MD, Scott E. Hadland MD, MPH, MS & Sion K. Harris PhD

with 1495 views (and counting!)

The Authors’ Own Words: Willingness to Provide a Hair Sample for Drug Testing among Electronic Dance Music Party Attendees

Nov 13, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Willingness to Provide a Hair Sample for Drug Testing among Electronic Dance Music Party Attendees

Joseph J. Palamar, PhD, MPH; Alberto Salomone, PhD; Charles M. Cleland, PhD; Scott Sherman, MD, MPH

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 1, 2019

“While hair collection is a non-invasive method of biological specimen collection, it is in fact a challenging method when added to street-intercept surveys. Hair testing has high utility in adding information to survey data, but future research needs to examine how to increase feasibility and response rates in such at-risk scenes.“