Search:
Scroll to top
Tag: opioid epidemic
03/06/2023

Opioid Prescription Decision Tool May Be Feasible Option to Curb Overprescribing

Article Excerpt: A new report shows that an app designed to help clinicians make better opioid-prescribing decisions following surgery can be a useful tool, although not all clinicians said they would continue using it. The study, published in BMJ Open, highlights one potential strategy to help curb the overprescription of opioids, which is believed to be a major factor in the current epidemic of opioid addiction in the United States. The study investigators said persistent postsurgical opioid use is a common problem that occurs in about 6% of opioid-naive patients who are given the drugs. In about 15% of cases, patients are discharged with opioid prescriptions that are inconsistent with their opioid usage while in the hospital.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yhxbwnc2

Article Source: AJMC

Posted in: Emerging Technologies, Uncategorized // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ;
01/17/2023

Clinical Trial to Test Wearable Device as Treatment for Chronic Pain, Opioid Withdrawal

Article Excerpt: A multi-year clinical trial at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) will examine the use of a wearable device thought to stimulate nerves near the ear to change signals in the brain as a treatment for chronic pain and opioid tapering. The trial, known as tANdem, is being funded by an $8.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and is designed to provide an understanding of the mechanistic, neurophysiological and antinociceptive effects of transcutaneous auricular neurostimulation (tAN), which has been shown to reduce pain and the symptoms of withdrawal.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4d266t22

Article Source: Investors Observer

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;
12/01/2022

UAMS Researchers Design App to Prevent Opioid Use Disorder Relapse

Article Excerpt: A trio of researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have designed a smart phone application to decrease opioid cravings and optimize medication-assisted treatment among individuals with opioid use disorder. A prototype of the app, known as OptiMAT (Optimizing Medication Assisted Treatment), was one of five winning entries in the 2022 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) “Product Prototypes to Combat Drug Craving” Challenge, a national contest of product prototypes designed to reduce drug cravings and prevent drug misuse, earning Andrew James, Ph.D., Ronald G. Thompson, Ph.D., and Mary Bollinger, Ph.D., an honorable mention and a $5,000 cash prize.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yc7jrp5h

Article Source: UAMS News

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
11/07/2022

Weill Cornell Medicine Awarded NIH Grant to Address Opioid Health Crisis

Article Excerpt: Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $8.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support economic analysis, simulation modeling and other research approaches to help stem the national opioid epidemic. “We’ve continued to witness the very disturbing increase in opioid overdoses over the last seven years, fueled by more fentanyl in the drug supply,” said principal investigator Dr. Bruce Schackman, the Saul P. Steinberg Distinguished Professor of Population Health Sciences and director of the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCB, and HIV (CHERISH) at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Opioid overdoses are now the highest they’ve ever been. That’s been a big driver of a greater national focus on treatment and interventions to reduce overdoses.”

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4px27edj

Article Source: Weill Cornell Medicine News

Posted in: Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
10/19/2022

Digital Therapy Treatments Give Rit Researchers Tools to Reach Rural Communities in N.Y. and N.H

Article Excerpt: Rochester Institute of Technology behavioral health researchers are providing remote mental health care and addiction therapy to rural communities in New York and New Hampshire and training for therapists to deploy the digital treatments at their clinics. The digital tools developed by RIT deliver motivational therapy and teach coping skills using telehealth, customizable digital coaches, and 3D simulations showing the effect of drugs and alcohol on the brain, heart, and lungs.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2p8pubxu

Article Source: EurekAlert!

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
10/10/2022

Home Sensors Can Detect Opioid Withdrawal Signs at Night

Article Excerpt: Some smart home technology could help curb opioid overdose. A Washington State University pilot study showed that a set of noninvasive home sensors could provide accurate information about overnight restlessness and sleep problems for people recovering from opioid use disorder.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/rvvr3ypd

Article Source: Science Daily

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ;
09/27/2022

Telehealth improves Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

Article Excerpt: During the COVID-19 pandemic, health agencies used emergency authorities to allow opioid treatment programs to provide care via telehealth and to remotely prescribe medications for opioid use disorder. Knowing whether patients benefited from these changes could affect whether they will remain in place. But studies addressing this question have thus far been limited in scope. A team of NIH and other federal researchers examined telehealth use, treatment engagement, and overdoses under the emergency authorities… The researchers looked at how well the people receiving medications continued their treatment. They found that those who received telehealth service were more likely to keep getting their medications. Importantly, those receiving telehealth service also had a lower risk of overdose.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/5ba9p3f8

Article Source: NIH News

Posted in: Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;

Youth Mental Health: Can Digital Tools Contain the Crisis?

Article Excerpt: Two and a half years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are still dealing with the fallout – not least the effect on youth mental health. For many children and young people, the repeated lockdowns, social isolation, and climate of uncertainty, proved to be deeply distressing. Searches for apps for mental health problems are rising considerably. “Young people are at the very point in their lives when socialising with their peers is a way to discover their independence and learn how to interact in the world as young adults,” says Dr Lloyd Humphreys, clinical psychologist and managing director of ORCHA (the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps). “We now know that areas with a higher concentration of younger people (aged 16-24) tended to have higher rates of loneliness during the pandemic.”

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4wv3utj9

Article Source: Medical Device Network

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;
09/06/2022

Expanded Telehealth Helped Patients Treated for Opioid Use Disorder in COVID-19 Pandemic

Article Excerpt: Expanding telehealth services for opioid use disorder (OUD) can help keep patients in treatment longer and reduce risks of overdosing. The findings were part of a new study that compared telehealth usage for 105,240 OUD patients before the COVID-19 pandemic and for 70,538 who began treatment during the pandemic. At that time, federal regulators supported broader use of telehealth services and relaxed policies on prescribing methadone and buprenorphine for OUD treatment, said the study published Aug. 31 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yeyjntd3

Article Source: Medical Economics

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;