Drugs in Development to Manage Acute Pain.

Acute pain, defined as short-term pain arising from injury or other noxious stimuli, affects patient outcomes, quality of life, and healthcare costs. Safe, effective treatment of acute pain is essential in preventing increased morbidity, mortality, and the transition to chronic pain. In this review, we explore some of the latest therapeutic agents, formulations, combinations, and administration routes of drugs emerging in clinical practice in the USA for the treatment of acute pain.

Role of Point-of-Care Gastric Ultrasound in Advancing Perioperative Fasting Guidelines.

Pulmonary aspiration in the perioperative period carries the risk of significant morbidity and mortality. As such, guidelines have been developed with the hopes of minimizing this risk by recommending fasting from solids and liquids over a specified amount of time. Point-of-care ultrasound has altered the landscape of perioperative medicine; specifically, gastric ultrasound plays a pivotal role in perioperative assessment.

Opioid-Obviating Analgesia for Adolescent Multilevel Spinal Fusion Surgery: A Problem-Based Learning Discussion.

A female teenager with a history of polysubstance use, including a recent overdose, is scheduled for multilevel posterior spinal fusion surgery due to idiopathic scoliosis and has asked to avoid the use of opioids in the context of her upcoming surgery. This problem-based learning discussion (PBLD) focuses on the examination of the care of a spinal fusion patient that allowed for the successful provision of opioid-obviating care.

Postoperative analgesic options after spine surgery: finding the optimal treatment strategies.

Introduction: Spine surgery is one of the most common types of surgeries performed in the United States; however, managing postoperative pain following spine surgery has proven to be challenging. Patients with spine pathologies have higher incidences of chronic pain and resultant opioid use and potential for tolerance. Implementing a multimodal plan for postoperative analgesia after spine surgery can lead to enhanced recovery and outcomes.

Implementation of a Frailty Assessment and Targeted Care Interventions and Its Association with Reduced Postoperative Complications in Elderly Surgical Patients.

Background: Older patients with frailty syndrome have a greater risk of poor postoperative outcomes. In this study, we used a RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to implement an assessment tool to identify frail patients and targeted interventions to improve their outcomes.

Study Design: We implemented a 5-question frailty assessment tool for patients 65 years and older admitted to the general and vascular surgery services from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019.

Loss to Follow-Up After Newborn Hearing Screening: Analysis of Risk Factors at a Massachusetts Urban Safety-Net Hospital.

Objectives: This study examines the unique factors that influence loss to follow-up after newborn hearing screening for patients at a Massachusetts urban safety-net hospital. We seek to characterize our patient population, investigate correlations between patient factors and rates of follow-up, and understand gaps in care.

Design: A retrospective chart review was conducted of patients born at an urban safety-net hospital from January 2015 through May 2018 who did not pass the newborn hearing screening in one or both ears.

Prevalence and natural history of obstructive sleep apnea in pediatric patients with laryngomalacia.

Objective: Laryngomalacia is the most common cause of infant stridor, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is sometimes found concurrently in patients with laryngomalacia. OSA has been shown to improve after surgical treatment of laryngomalacia, but the majority of laryngomalacia patients have spontaneous resolution of symptoms. It is unknown whether their comorbid OSA also resolves.

Readability of online patient education materials for parents after a failed newborn hearing screen.

Objective: A cross-sectional study design was utilized to evaluate the readability of patient education materials on the newborn hearing screen from Google and major institutions.

Methods: The top 55 websites from the Google search "failed newborn hearing screen" and websites from major institutions (the U.S.