Publications by authors named "Erin Amundson"

Article Synopsis
  • Patients on long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain often still suffer from unrelieved pain and quality of life issues.
  • This study compared two approaches for managing these patients: an integrated pain team (IPT) focused on holistic care versus pharmacist collaborative management (PCM) concentrated on medication optimization.
  • Results showed similar outcomes for both groups in terms of pain response and opioid dosage reduction after 12 months, indicating that both methods can be effective in managing chronic pain.
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Introduction: Meaningful engagement of patients in the research process has increased over the past 20 years. Few accounts are available of engagement infrastructure and processes used by large research organizations. The Pain/Opioid Consortium of Research (Consortium) is a U.

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Purpose: Self-collected testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) is poised to transform cervical cancer screening. Self-tests demonstrate similar accuracy to clinician-collected tests, but for the half a million women served by the Veterans Health Administration (VA) and their clinicians, self-collected cervical cancer screening would be a new practice. We examined VA patient and staff perspectives to inform future implementation.

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The Veterans' Pain Care Organizational Improvement Comparative Effectiveness (VOICE) study is a 12-month pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness trial conducted at ten United States Veterans Affairs (VA) health care sites. The overall goal was to test interventions to improve pain while reducing opioid use among VA patients with moderate-severe chronic pain despite treatment with long-term opioid therapy (LTOT). Aims were 1) to compare lower-intensity telecare collaborative pain management (TCM) versus higher-intensity integrated pain team management (IPT), and 2) to test the option of switching to buprenorphine (versus no option) in a high-dose subgroup.

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In 2017, ten veteran patients with the shared experience of living with chronic pain united to form a Veteran Engagement Panel (VEP) to support the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute® (PCORI®)funded Veterans Pain Care Organizational Improvement Comparative Effectiveness (VOICE) Study. The study, conducted at ten Veterans Affairs (VA) sites, compares two team-based approaches to improve pain management and reduce potential harms of opioid therapy. The panel shares ten best practices for sustaining a successful engagement partnership.

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Objective/background: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) provides safe and effective insomnia care without the risk of harm associated with sleeping medications. Unfortunately, few patients with insomnia engage with CBT-I, with most using sedative hypnotics instead. This study conducted focus groups with patients with insomnia who were treated with sleeping medication, including older adults, women, and patients with chronic pain.

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Objective: Insomnia is one of the most common, persistent, and distressing symptoms associated with chronic pain. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the firstline treatment for insomnia, but patient preferences and perspectives about CBT-I within the context of chronic pain are unknown. The current qualitative study sought to understand the experience of CBT-I among patients with chronic pain, including aspects of CBT-I that were found to be difficult (e.

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: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the most effective treatment for insomnia but is severely underutilized. One of the key reasons for underuse is lack of knowledge among patients and primary care providers, but effective methods and materials for increasing knowledge are unknown. This study conducted in-depth interviews with CBT-I patients and their CBT-I providers to explore their perceptions on increasing utilization of CBT-I.

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Purpose: To evaluate the academic advancement and productivity of Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Career Development Award (CDA) program recipients, National Institutes of Health (NIH) K awardees in health services research (HSR), and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) K awardees.

Method: In all, 219 HSR&D CDA recipients from fiscal year (FY) 1991 through FY2010; 154 NIH K01, K08, and K23 awardees FY1991-FY2010; and 69 AHRQ K01 and K08 awardees FY2000-FY2010 were included. Most data were obtained from curricula vitae.

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This study's purpose was to identify distinct publishing trajectories among 442 participants in three prominent mentored health services research career development programs (Veterans Affairs, National Institutes of Health, and Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality) in the 10 years after award receipt and to examine awardee characteristics associated with different trajectories. Curricula vitae (CVs) of researchers receiving awards between 1991 and 2010 were coded for publications, grants, and awardee characteristics. We found that awardees published at constant or increasing rates despite flat or decreasing rates of first-author publications.

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