Choosing a drug to treat motion sickness.

Patients who suffer from motion sickness despite avoiding triggers and using behavioral modifications may benefit from individualized recommendations for pharmacologic therapy. Patients with refractory motion sickness can benefit from prophylactic drug therapy using first-generation antihistamines or scopolamine.

Post stroke pain: Is there under-diagnosis in Black versus White patients?

Stroke incidence is higher and stroke outcomes are poorer in Black patients compared to White patients. Poststroke pain, however, is not a well understood stroke outcome. Using the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program database, we hypothesized that the dataset would demonstrate proportionately higher relative risk of poststroke pain in the Black poststroke patient population compared to the White poststroke patient population.

Opioid use disorder and motivational interviewing: Training physician assistants for the epidemic.

Objectives: (1) To evaluate the effectiveness of a curriculum on physician assistant (PA) students' knowledge about opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and management and (2) present student satisfaction with the curriculum.

Methods: Three cohorts of PA students completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires about their knowledge of motivational interviewing (MI) for OUD. One cohort of students completed the 11-item questionnaire without exposure to the intervention (control group).

Are Physician Assistants Able to Correctly Identify Prescribing Errors? A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: (1) To describe how often physician assistant (PA) students correctly identify prescribing errors and (2) examine between-cohort differences on ability to correctly identify prescribing errors.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 2 cohorts of PA students at one institution. Students were presented with 3 hypothetical prescriptions, 2 of which contained a prescribing error.

The 2017 North Carolina STOP Act is Associated With an Accelerated Decrease in Opioid Dispensing: A Statewide Analysis, 2013-2019.

Background: This study aimed to: 1) quantify the dispensing and days' supply of opioid prescriptions prior to and after the NC STOP Act went into effect among Medicare Part D beneficiaries; 2) evaluate how the STOP Act impacted physician assistant and nurse practitioner opioid prescribing; and 3) evaluate whether the NC STOP Act is associated with reductions in opioid prescriptions' days' supply among Medicare Part D beneficiaries.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of Medicare Part D Public Use Files for 2013-2019. Only North Carolina providers and select Schedule II (CII) and III (CIII) drugs and tramadol (CV) were included in the analysis.

What Physician Assistants Prefer in a Postprofessional Doctorate Program: A Cross-Sectional Rating and Rankings Study.

Purpose: The physician assistant (PA) literature has focused on the implications of creating an entry-level doctoral degree; however, there is scant primary literature on postprofessional doctorates, which are becoming more popular as the number of institutions offering them increases. The purposes of this project were to: (1) describe interest and motivation of currently practicing PAs to enroll in a postprofessional doctorate program and (2) identify the most- and least-preferred attributes of a postprofessional doctorate program.

Methods: This was a quantitative cross-sectional survey of recent alumni from one institution.

Adaptation and factor structure of three psychometric instruments measuring behavioral aspects of medication prescribing in physician assistants.

Objectives: (1) Present the factor structure of two psychometric instruments for self-efficacy and one for outcome expectations of medication prescribing; (2) evaluate the reliability of the scales, and (3) present preliminary evidence of validity.

Methods: Physician assistants (PA) and PA students completed a survey evaluating three psychometric instruments: (1) Self-Efficacy in Prescribing (SEP), (2) Self-Efficacy in Prescribing-Geriatric (SEPG), and (3) Outcomes Expectations of Prescribing Errors (OEP). Students also evaluated 3 hypothetical prescriptions, two of which contained a prescribing error.

Preanesthesia concerns in a patient with a thyroid mass.

Preoperative evaluation helps identify patient comorbidities and surgical characteristics that increase perioperative risk, and also can help identify patients with potentially difficult airways. Identifying patients with difficult airways before surgery lets clinicians plan appropriate perioperative management and prepare for potential complications. This article focuses on management of a difficult airway in a patient undergoing surgery for a thyroid mass.