Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVE:To define expectations for neurocritical care (NCC) core competencies vs competencies considered within the domain of other subspecialists. METHODS:An electronic survey was disseminated nationally to NCC nurses, physicians, fellows, and neurology residents through Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education neurology residency program directors, United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties neurocritical care fellowship program directors, and members of the Neurocritical Care Society. RESULTS:A total of 268 neurocritical care providers and neurology residents from 30 institutions responded. Overall, >90% supported NCC graduates independently interpreting and managing systemic and cerebral hemodynamic data, or performing brain death determination, neurovascular ultrasound, vascular access, and airway management. Over 75% endorsed that NCC graduates should independently interpret EEG and perform bronchoscopies. Fewer but substantial respondents supported graduates being independent performing intracranial bolt (45.8%), ventriculostomy (39.0%), tracheostomy (39.8%), or gastrostomy (19.1%) procedures. Trainees differed from physicians and program directors, respectively, by advocating independence in EEG interpretation (92.8%, 61.8%, and 65.3%) and PEG placement (29.3%, 9.1%, and 8.5%). CONCLUSIONS:Broad support exists across NCC role groups for wide-ranging NCC competencies including skills often performed by other neurology and non-neurology subspecialties. Variations highlight natural divergences in expectations among trainee, physician, and nurse role groups. These results establish expectations for core competencies within NCC and initiate dialogue across subspecialties about best practice standards for the spectrum of critically ill patients requiring neurologic care.

OBJECTIVE:To examine similarities and differences in urine drug test (UDT) results in clinical pain patients and pain subjects participating in pain research studies. DESIGN/METHODS:An observational study with retrospective chart review and data analysis. METHODS:We analyzed 1,874 UDT results obtained from 1) clinical pain patients (Clinical Group; n = 1,529) and 2) pain subjects consented to participate in pain research studies (Research Group; n = 345). Since several medications such as opioids used in pain management are drugs of abuse (DOA) and can result in a positive UDT, we specifically identified those cases of positive UDT due to nonprescribed DOA and designated these cases as positive UDT with DOA (PUD). RESULTS:We found that 1) there was a higher rate of PUD in clinical pain patients (41.3%) than in pain research study subjects (14.8%); 2) although subjects in the Research Group were informed ahead of time that UDT will be conducted as a screening test, a substantial number (14.8%) of pain research study subjects still showed PUD; 3) there were different types of DOA between clinical pain patients (cannabinoids as the top DOA) and research study subjects (cocaine as the top DOA); and 4) a common factor associated with PUD was opioid therapy in both Clinical Group and Research Group. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:These results support previous findings that PUD is a common finding in clinical pain patients, particularly in those prescribed opioid therapy, and we suggest that UDT be used as routine screening testing in pain research studies.

OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to compare the sensitivity to experimental pain of chronic pain patients on opioid therapy vs chronic pain patients on non-opioid therapy and healthy subjects by quantitative sensory testing (QST). SETTING/METHODS:There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that chronic use of opioid drugs may alter pain sensitivity. Identifying the characteristic changes in thermal pain sensitivity in chronic opioid users will be helpful in diagnosing pain sensitivity alterations associated with chronic opioid use. METHODS:Utilizing an office-based QST technique, we examined thermal pain threshold, tolerance, and temporal summation in 172 chronic pain subjects receiving opioid therapy, 121 chronic pain subjects receiving non-opioid therapy, and 129 healthy subjects. RESULTS:In chronic pain subjects receiving opioid therapy, there were detectable differences in QST characteristics compared with both chronic pain subjects receiving non-opioid therapy and healthy subjects. Specifically, in chronic pain subjects receiving opioid therapy, 1) sensitivity to heat pain was increased; threshold to heat pain was significantly lower; 2) tolerance to supra-threshold heat pain was significantly decreased; and 3) temporal pain summation was exacerbated, as compared with chronic pain subjects receiving non-opioid therapy. In a subgroup of chronic pain subjects receiving opioid therapy with increased heat pain sensitivity, their average opioid medication dosage was significantly higher than those who had an above-average heat pain threshold. Moreover, a subset of chronic pain subjects on opioid therapy exhibited a significant decrease in diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) compared with chronic pain subjects on non-opioid therapy. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that a subset of QST parameters can reflect opioid-associated thermal pain sensitivity alteration, including decreased heat pain threshold, decreased cold and heat pain tolerance, diminished DNIC, and/or exacerbated temporal summation.

UNLABELLED:Despite the increasing use of opioid analgesics for chronic pain management, it is unclear whether opioid dose escalation leads to better pain relief during chronic opioid therapy. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed clinical data collected from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Pain Medicine over a 7-year period. We examined 1) the impact of opioid dose adjustment (increase or decrease) on clinical pain score; 2) gender and age differences in response to opioid therapy; and 3) the influence of clinical pain conditions on the opioid analgesic efficacy. A total of 109 subjects met the criteria for data collection. We found that neither opioid dose increase, nor decrease, correlated with point changes in clinical pain score in a subset of chronic pain patients over a prolonged course of opioid therapy (an average of 704 days). This lack of correlation was consistent regardless of the type of chronic pain including neuropathic, nociceptive, or mixed pain conditions. Neither gender nor age differences showed a significant influence on the clinical response to opioid therapy in these subjects. These results suggest that dose adjustment during opioid therapy may not necessarily alter long-term clinical pain score in a group of chronic pain patients and that individualized opioid therapy based on the clinical effectiveness should be considered to optimize the treatment outcome. PERSPECTIVE/CONCLUSIONS:The study reports a relationship, or lack thereof, between opioid dose change and clinical pain score in a group of chronic pain patients. The study also calls for further investigation into the effectiveness of opioid therapy in the management of chronic nonmalignant pain conditions.