Navigating the Confusing Opioid Epidemic: Managing Acute Pain in Patients Taking Buprenorphine
by Alexandra Beckmann, PharmD
Imagine that you are an acute care clinical pharmacist, managing patients on a general medical unit. You are rounding with the interdisciplinary healthcare team on a newly admitted patient. The 38-year-old female patient was in a motor vehicle accident and sustained multiple broken bones. The patient has a past medical history notable for opioid use disorder, for which the patient currently takes buprenorphine/naloxone 16 mg/4 mg sublingually once daily. The patient is in extreme pain, but the team is unsure of how to treat the patient’s acute pain and looks to you for guidance. Given that the patient is taking buprenorphine/naloxone, what will you recommend for acute pain management?
Keywords: Analgesics, Opioid, Opioid Epidemic, Pharmacists, Buprenorphine, Naloxone Drug Combination, Opiate Overdose, Public Health, Acute Pain, COVID-19, Pain Management, Pandemics, Research Design, Wisconsin, Physicians' Practice Patterns, Drug Overdose, Opioid-Related Disorders, United States Dept. of Health and Human Services, Patient Care Team, Health Service, Prescriptions
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2022 November/December Table of Contents
Imagine that you are an acute care clinical pharmacist, managing patients on a general medical unit. You are rounding with the interdisciplinary healthcare team on a newly admitted patient. The 38-year-old female patient was in a motor vehicle accident and sustained multiple broken bones. The patient has a past medical history notable for opioid use disorder, for which the patient currently takes buprenorphine/naloxone 16 mg/4 mg sublingually once daily. The patient is in extreme pain, but the team is unsure of how to treat the patient’s acute pain and looks to you for guidance. Given that the patient is taking buprenorphine/naloxone, what will you recommend for acute pain management?
Keywords: Analgesics, Opioid, Opioid Epidemic, Pharmacists, Buprenorphine, Naloxone Drug Combination, Opiate Overdose, Public Health, Acute Pain, COVID-19, Pain Management, Pandemics, Research Design, Wisconsin, Physicians' Practice Patterns, Drug Overdose, Opioid-Related Disorders, United States Dept. of Health and Human Services, Patient Care Team, Health Service, Prescriptions
Download PDF
2022 November/December Table of Contents