37 papers for July. Ok – now I’m up to date! 1)Using routinely collected data to understand and predict adverse outcomes in opioid agonist treatment: Protocol for the Opioid Agonist Treatment Safety (OATS) Study. Larney S, Hickman M, Fiellin DA, Dobbins T, Nielsen S, Jones NR, Mattick RP, Ali R, Degenhardt L. BMJ Open.Read More
PubMed Update March-June 2018
Life is busy and so are all these writers – 109 papers. This is four months of article updates so a bit overwhelming. Sorry about that. I tried to help by creating some categories, but there are still 35 uncategorized. 26 naloxone papers: 1) Naloxone prescriptions from the emergency department: An initiative in evolution.Read More
PubMed Update February 2018
36 papers this month. I will add that this is a PubMed literature review – we cover published articles. This month, unfortunately, an unpublished paper of very poor methodology with multiple major errors got a lot of attention. I won’t provide the link here so as to avoid drawing further attention to the paper. ItRead More
PubMed Update November 2017
In honor of the impending New Year … we have 38 papers for you in just one month! There’s some sophisticated work here – innovative epidemiology, interventions, and reviews of overdose. We’ve come a long way from the 1990s, but clearly not quickly enough for the dynamic urgency of this issue. 1) Safety andRead More
PubMed Update September-October 2017
51 in two months, continuing to run solid. 1) Using Group Visits to Provide Overdose Education and Distribute Naloxone to High-Risk Primary Care Patients. Bair MJ. Pain Med. 2017 Nov 1. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnx279. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available. Comment: Described in the title, this is a commentary on a quasi-experimental study in Veterans’ Administration clinics. Read More
PubMed Update October/November 2016
43 papers this round, and there are some goodies in here for sure (don’t miss #38!). Given the number and varied issues addressed, I divided them up into topic areas and, given the number on naloxone, I divided up the naloxone topic areas as well. Naloxone interventions Primary care 1) Co-prescription of naloxone as aRead More
PubMed Update July 2016
11 papers this month, including an announcement that naloxone is now over-the-counter in Australia. 1) Factors associated with knowledge of a Good Samaritan Law among young adults who use prescription opioids non-medically. Evans TI, Hadland SE, Clark MA, Green TC, Marshall BD. Harm Reduct J. 2016 Jul 26;13(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s12954-016-0113-2. Comments: Less than half knewRead More
PubMed Update June 2016
Summer holiday. A mere 10 articles this month! 1) Community pharmacist knowledge, attitudes and confidence regarding naloxone for overdosereversal. Nielsen S, Menon N, Larney S, Farrell M, Degenhardt L. Addiction. 2016 Jul 1. doi: 10.1111/add.13517. [Epub ahead of print] Comment: Most pharmacists in Australia would provide naloxone, but a minority feel comfortable selecting patients and educating about naloxoneRead More
PubMed Update May 2016
19 this month. Enjoy! 1) Methadone-Related Overdose Deaths in a Liberal Opioid Maintenance Treatment Programme. Tjagvad C, Skurtveit S, Linnet K, Andersen LV, Christoffersen DJ, Clausen T. Eur Addict Res. 2016 Jun 1;22(5):249-258. [Epub ahead of print] Comments: Patients on very high doses of methadone or also using benzodiazepines were at higher risk of death.Read More
PubMed Update April 2016
23 for this month! Lots of interesting stuff, from large-scale epidemiology to randomized controlled trials. 1) Pharmacokinetic Properties and Human Use Characteristics of an FDA Approved IntranasalNaloxone Product for the Treatment of Opioid Overdose. Krieter P, Chiang N, Gyaw S, Skolnick P, Crystal R, Keegan F, Aker J, Beck M, Harris J. J Clin Pharmacol. 2016 MayRead More