Webinar Offers Strategies To Avoid Overdose and Cardiac Risks
Newswise — CHICAGO, Nov. 5, 2014 – Methadone safety in pain management and treatment of drug addiction is becoming a serious concern in the wake of steep increases in methadone-associated overdose deaths. Safer prescribing can be achieved by improving physician and patient education about methadone safety. The American Pain Society (APS), www.americanpainsociety.org, today sponsors a free webinar for clinicians covering its recent methadone safety clinical practice guideline on at 1:00 p.m. EST.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly a third of all prescription pain medication overdose deaths involve methadone, and U.S. deaths from methadone increased six-fold from 1999 to 2009. The increase in mortality has been substantially higher than for any other opioid medication and is attributed to a sharp rise in prescribing methadone for chronic pain.
In April, APS published its methadone safety guideline (The Journal of Pain, April 2014) written by an expert panel that reviewed more than 3,700 scientific abstracts under the direction of the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center.
“The intent of the guideline is to provide evidence-based recommendations for use of methadone in persons of all ages for treatment of chronic pain in primary care or specialty settings, or for use in licensed opioid addiction treatment programs,” said Roger Chou, M.D., lead author and head of the APS Clinical Practice Guideline Program. “The guideline is based on a systematic review of the evidence on methadone safety, and the panel concluded that safely prescribing this medication requires clinical skill and knowledge to mitigate risks related to overdose and cardiac arrhythmias.”
Speakers presenting in the webinar will discus the epidemiology of methadone-associated adverse outcomes, methadone’s unique pharmacological properties, and share strategies to help reduce the risk of overdose and other harm associated with the medication. Webinar panelists are:
• Moderator, Keela Herr, Ph.D. RN, professor and associated dean for faculty, John A. Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence, University of Iowa College of Nursing
• Roger Chou, MD, associate professor, Departments of Medicine, Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health and Science University
• Melissa Wermer, DO, MCR, assistant professor, Division of Internal Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University
The webinar is free and offers one continuing education credit for physicians. Registration is available on the APS website, www.americanpainsociety.org.
About APS Clinical Practice GuidelinesThe program is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, ongoing effort to develop guidelines and assure their dissemination and implementation. It adheres to state-of-the-art scientific principles of guideline development and evaluation. The methadone guideline is the eighth evidence-based, pain management clinical practice guideline published by APS. Some others have covered sickle-cell disease, arthritis, cancer, fibromyalgia, and low back pain.
About the American Pain Society Based in Chicago, the American Pain Society (APS) is a multidisciplinary community that brings together a diverse group of scientists, clinicians and other professionals to increase the knowledge of pain and transform public policy and clinical practice to reduce pain-related suffering. APS was founded in 1978 with 510 charter members. From the outset, the group was conceived as a multidisciplinary organization. The Board of Directors includes physicians, nurses, psychologists, basic scientists, pharmacists, policy analysts and others. For more information on APS, visit www.americanpainsociety.org.
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