Search

Opioid stewardship is one essential function of pain and palliative care pharmacists and a critical need in the United States. In recent years, this country has been plagued by two public health emergencies: an opioid crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated the opioid epidemic through its economic and psychosocial toll. To develop an opioid stewardship program, a systematic approach is needed. This will be detailed in part here by the Opioid Stewardship Taskforce of the Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists (SPPCP), focusing on the role of the pharmacist. Many pain and palliative care pharmacists have made significant contributions to the development and daily operation of such programs while also completing other competing clinical tasks, including direct patient care. To ensure dedicated time and attention to critical opioid stewardship efforts, SPPCP recommends and endorses opioid stewardship models employing a full time, opioid stewardship pharmacist in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. Early research suggests that opioid stewardship pharmacists are pivotal to improving opioid metrics and pain care outcomes. However, further research and development in this area of practice is needed and encouraged.

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) translate competencies into explicit, practical terms that clearly state the expected roles and responsibilities of clinicians who have achieved proficiency and expertise in a field. EPAs are defined for Hospice and Palliative Medicine physicians but not for other members of Hospice and Palliative Care (HAPC) interprofessional teams, including pharmacists.The objective of this study was to develop EPAs for HAPC pharmacists.An 11-member workgroup of HAPC pharmacists was convened to develop candidate EPAs using nominal group and modified-Delphi methods. Content validity index was used as a measure of consensus, defined a priori at ≥ 60%. Vetting occurred via intra- and interprofessional stakeholder reactor groups and a national survey of HAPC pharmacists.Following an iterative process of workgroup and stakeholder consensus-building, 15 HAPC pharmacist EPAs were developed. Among the workgroup, all 15 EPAs reached ≥ 70% consensus, indicating appropriate internal validity. In a national survey of 185 HAPC pharmacists with a 20% response rate, 13 EPAs were rated by most respondents as "essential" and 2 were rated by most respondents as "important but not essential." Respondents indicated the 15 EPA set represented the core professional activities of HAPC pharmacists well (median rating of 5 on a Likert-like scale, IQR 1).Fifteen consensus EPAs describe essential activities of HAPC pharmacists in direct patient care, leadership, education, and scholarship. These EPAs will further guide pharmacist training programs, HAPC services seeking to incorporate a specialized pharmacist on the team, and currently practicing HAPC pharmacists.

The incidence of neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) has been increasing over the past few decades due to improved diagnostic abilities. NENs secrete large amounts of serotonin and polypeptides, resulting in carcinoid syndrome. While surgical resection is the treatment of choice when feasible, somatostatins have been the primary treatment for control of tumor growth and symptoms of hypersecretion. For patients who have progressed on somatostatin analogues, peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) may be another option. This chapter discusses the role of PRRT through application to the case of GJ, a 36-year-old who presents with NEN of the small intestine, which is no longer responding to treatment with octreotide long-acting repeatable (LAR) and who may benefit from treatment with the PRRT, 177Lu-dotatate.

At the core of pain management in palliative care is a good pain assessment. Even without formal scans, this will give insight into the patient’s pain experience and possible underlying etiologies. When performed correctly, evaluating the six key elements of symptom assessment can lead to a therapeutic intervention that incorporates the patient’s expertise in their pain experience and pairs it with the clinician’s expertise in evaluation and treatment. A good assessment can be done using one of several scales or tools and, when combined with physical exam and appropriate imaging or testing, can yield a complete pain assessment that can be used to guide therapy. The focus of the assessment should be to not only better understand the pain, but also how the patient’s function and quality of life is impacted.

Introduction Poly-adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) have become a cornerstone of therapy in the management ovarian cancer and other cancers. PARPi are associated with significant toxicities and management strategies are primarily founded on clinical trial experience. This study aimed to provide an evaluation of patients receiving PARPi therapy within an academic health-system. Methods A retrospective, observational study of adult patients with gynecologic malignancy was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Data was collected on patients prescribed a PARPi between December 2014 and October 2019. The primary endpoint was the status of PARPi therapy at the end of the study period. Key secondary endpoints included toxicity management strategies, time to discontinuation due to toxicity, progression free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Results Of the 85 patients included, 45 (53%) received olaparib, 24 (28%) niraparib, and 16 (19%) rucaparib. Twenty-nine patients (34%) continued on therapy, 15 (18%) discontinued due to toxicity, and 41 (48%) discontinued due to progression. Fifty-one percent of patients required a dose reduction due to toxicities. The median time to discontinuation due to toxicity was 69 days (9-353). Median PFS was 181 days (9-365) and median OS was 338 days (9-365). Conclusion PARPi therapy is associated with numerous toxicities that are best managed through a multi-modal approach. Importantly, about half the patients in the current study required a dose reduction. Overall, this observational study outlines the incidence of PARPi toxicities and reviews potential management strategies, further guiding practitioners in an area with limited real-world experience.

Introduction Despite the prevalence of pain in patients with serious illness, recent guidelines for opioid prescribing practices have largely excluded palliative care patients. In lieu of such guidelines, many have recommended adapting risk mitigation strategies from the chronic pain arena for palliative care and oncology populations. Teaching interventions are needed to demonstrate how these methods can be applied to patients with serious illness. Methods We developed a teaching intervention for fourth-year medical students to improve knowledge about safe opioid prescribing practices in palliative care patients and emphasized both effective and safe pain management. A secondary aim of the intervention was to demonstrate how a palliative care interdisciplinary team works together to care for a complex patient near the end of life. The intervention lasted 1 hour and consisted of an interdisciplinary case presentation as well as a slide presentation. Results Twenty-two medical students attended the session over 2 years. After the intervention, medical students better understood risk mitigation strategies and felt more strongly that opioids can be a useful tool in treating pain for patients with serious illness. Students' familiarity with palliative care interdisciplinary roles also improved after the intervention. Discussion This session was a useful part of a palliative care 2-week classroom elective and was well received by students. The development of a survey tool that assesses student attitudes around effective and safe pain management in patients with serious illness may be of use to others who teach pain management in palliative care populations.

The opioid stewardship model is born out of the antimicrobial stewardship model, and thus there are many shared characteristics. Both opioid stewardship and antimicrobial stewardship are based on the principle that there is an indication for a particular medication in the right patient at the right time. As antimicrobial stewardship is in a later stage of development, looking at the two in parallel can lead to interesting learning and development opportunities for opioid stewardship. Two requirements of antimicrobial stewardship that need to be applied to opioid stewardship for optimum outcomes are the requirement for dedicated resources, more specifically a trained pharmacist, and a declaration that opioid stewardship is essential for health-system accreditation.

Opioid-induced constipation (OIC) is a common adverse effect associated with opioid therapy, with many patients never developing tolerance to this effect. There are many traditional laxatives available to help patients combat this symptom, yet OIC may not reliably respond to conventional treatment. Peripherally acting µ-opioid receptor antagonists (PAMORAs) have a place in the treatment of refractory OIC, when traditional laxatives have not resulted in effective laxation. There are a number of PAMORAs now available, and methylnaltrexone is the only PAMORA indicated for the treatment of OIC in adults with advanced illness, as well as for patients with chronic noncancer pain, including patients with chronic pain related to prior cancer treatment who do not require frequent opioid escalation. Advanced practitioners need to have an understanding of how and when to best use these medications for the different indications in patients with advanced illness or chronic noncancer-related pain.

Palliative care (PC) providers often prescribe psychotropic medications to address psychological and physical suffering of patients with serious medical illness. Consideration must be given to the significant medical comorbidities of the patient when selecting a medication. This article seeks to provide guidance on how to safely and effectively select a psychotropic agent for depression, anxiety, and other distressing symptoms for patients with serious illness. To do so, we draw upon a team of physicians and a pharmacist with training in psychiatry and PC to highlight the "Top 10" tips for selecting a psychotropic medication to provide relief for patients with serious medical illness.

Background: As the population of older adults continues to increase, there will be an increase in the number of older patients requiring pain and symptom management in the setting of advanced, seri...

e18073 Background: Poly-adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) have become a major cornerstone of therapy in the management of patients with ovarian cancer and other cancer types. The most common adverse events with PARPi therapy include bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity, and fatigue. Currently, information is scarce regarding the management of some of these adverse events. Methods: A retrospective, descriptive observational study of adult patients with gynecologic malignancy, who received at least 2 weeks of PARPi therapy, was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Data was collected on patients prescribed a PARPi between December 2014 and October 2019, from initiation of therapy through one-year post-initiation or last follow-up. The primary endpoint was the status of PARPi therapy at the end of the study period. Secondary endpoints included time to toxicity, progression free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze all endpoints. Results: Of the 85 patients included in the study, 45 (53%) received olaparib, 24 (28%) niraparib, and 16 (19%) rucaparib. Twenty-nine patients (34%) continued on PARPi therapy, 16 (19%) discontinued the due toxicity, and 40 (47%) discontinued due to progression. Of 147 unique toxicities, 67 (46%) were GI-related, 48 (33%) were hematologic, and 32 (22%) were other toxicities, including fatigue, elevated serum creatinine, hypertension, and rash. Twenty-three percent of all toxicities were categorized as grade 3 or 4 per the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v5.0. The median number of management strategies required for GI toxicities was 1 (range 1-7), hematologic toxicities was 2 (1-8), and fatigue was 1.5 (1-4). Primary management strategies included pharmacologic therapy (96%) for GI toxicities; transfusion support (65%), holding PARPi therapy (67%), and dose reduction (52%) for hematologic toxicities; and dose reduction (78%) for fatigue. Hospital admission due to PARPi toxicity occurred in 12% of patients. The median time to toxicity was 29 days (1-330) and the median time to discontinuation due to toxicity was 72.5 days (9-353). Fifty-four patients (64%) had progression of disease and 18 (21%) died within one-year of initiation. Median PFS was 181 days and median OS was 338 days, censored for time to last follow-up. Conclusions: This observational study outlines the incidence of PARPi toxicity and some of the management strategies within an academic health system, further guiding practitioners in an area with limited information.

As palliative care (PC) moves upstream in the course of serious illness and the development of drugs and their indications rapidly expand, PC providers must understand common drug indications and adverse effects to ensure safe and effective prescribing. Pharmacists, experts in the nuances of medication management, are valuable resources and colleagues for PC providers. This article will offer PC providers 10 useful clinical pharmacy tips that PC pharmacists think all PC providers should know for safe and effective symptom management. Close collaboration with or addition of a trained pharmacist to your PC team can improve clinical care for all PC patients.

Tapering opioids is one of the most daunting dilemmas in clinical practice today. The decision to taper opioids is based on many factors, including a lack of efficacy, unacceptable risk, perioperative management, noncompliance, or patient preference. Tapering in the perioperative setting is quite common, though more complex in patients previously taking chronic opioid therapy. Outside of a medical emergency, opioid tapers are best managed in an outpatient setting, allowing for adjustments and more long-term nonopioid pain management, if necessary. No single strategy can be applied to all patients, and very few published guidelines are available for reference. Dose reductions and schedules are highly variable across available guidelines and literature. Dose reductions range from 10% to 50%, with a frequency ranging from daily reductions to every 2 weeks. Most guidelines address the concern of preventing physical withdrawal symptoms; however, few address the psychological ramifications of tapering. Individualized regimens and a willingness to adjust schedules and doses allows for improved patient comfort. The goal is to complete tapering without any symptoms of withdrawal; however, this is not always possible. Several available agents may help ameliorate these symptoms, including antihypertensives, antihistamines, antiemetics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics. Opioid tapering is rarely easy but should be a manageable process.

Moral distress, although not always recognized or named as such, is a phenomenon experienced by healthcare professionals from most disciplines and in diverse settings. Although the causes and experience of moral distress may vary with role responsibilities and practice context, powerlessness and lack of control over the situation are common themes across the spectrum. This chapter captures the perspectives of contributors who are nurses, doctors, social workers, chaplains, and pharmacists about their experience of moral distress as healthcare professionals.

The medicinal and recreational use of cannabis has been controversial, especially in the United States. Marijuana for medicinal use is approved in 14 U.S. states and has recently been considered for legalization in several additional states. Given its demonstrated efficacy in symptom management, marijuana has a potential role in palliative care. This study utilized a 16-item questionnaire to assess the knowledge, experience, and views of hospice professionals regarding the use of marijuana in terminally ill patients. The study results revealed that, like the general public, hospice health care providers are generally in favor of legalization of marijuana and, if legalized, would support its use in symptom management for their terminally ill patients.

Opioids are naturally occurring, semisynthetic, and synthetic drugs whose effects are mediated through opioid receptors, altering the perception and emotional response to painful stimuli [1, 2]. There are three major classes of opioid receptors: µ (mu), κ (kappa), and δ (delta), with subtypes within each receptor class [3]. Opioid receptors are found in the periaqueductal grey matter and throughout the spinal cord, as well as nonneural sites such as joint synovium and intestinal mucosa [1,2].

With approximately 80% of visits to physicians involving conditions with a painful component and at least 50 million Americans suffering from chronic pain, it is imperative to have an appreciation of pharmacotherapies available for treating pain [1,2]. Pain medications account for the second most prescribed class of drugs (after cardiac-renal drugs), making up 12% of all medications prescribed during ambulatory office visits in the USA [3]. The National Institutes of Health have estimated chronic pain to be the third largest health problem in the world [4]. Chronic pain is a problem that will become increasingly more prevalent as the US population aged 65 and older rapidly increases, as it is predicted to exceed 70 million by the year 2030 [2]. As many as 80% of older persons with cancer experience pain during the course of their illness [5]. The first chapter of this book makes it clear that complaints of pain are particularly common among older adults, occurring twice as often in persons over 65 years of age as compared to younger people [6–8].