Dermatology workforce in the United States - Part I: Overview, transformations, and implications.

The dermatology workforce continues to evolve to meet the growing and diversified demands of the US population. Part 1 of this continuing medical education series is designed to provide an overview of the dermatology workforce as well as delineate the motivators and socioeconomic implications of significant workforce transformations which are impacting dermatologic health care. Part 2 of the series will consider the impact of workforce challenges on patient outcomes and discuss potential actions that may help to optimize workforce organization and care delivery.

Dermatology workforce in the United States - Part II: Patient outcomes, challenges, and potential solutions.

This continuing medical education (CME) series assesses key features and ongoing transformations within the dermatology workforce. Part 1 of this series described precipitants and implications of recent workforce changes. Part 2 reviews the influence that these workforce dynamics have had on patient access, outcomes, and satisfaction. Additionally, it assesses potential solutions for optimizing care for underserved groups and the broader dermatologic patient population.

Emerging therapeutics in the management of connective tissue disease. Part II: Dermatomyositis and scleroderma.

The management of connective tissue diseases is dramatically evolving with the advent of biologics and novel oral systemic therapeutics. Despite involvement in the care of these complex patients, there is a knowledge gap in the field of dermatology regarding these emerging agents. The second article in this continuing medical education series discusses new and emerging therapeutics for dermatomyositis and scleroderma that target cells, intracellular signaling pathways, and cytokines.

Pain Management in Painful Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthropathy: Challenging and Intricately Intertwined Issues Involving Several Systems.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Psoriasis and psoriatic arthropathy are inflammatory autoimmune conditions that can lead to profound emotional distress, social stigmatization, isolation, disfigurement, pain, disability, unemployment, and decreased quality of life. Thus, this disease has immense psychological, social, and economic implications as the pain experienced is closely associated with the primary disease burden. This review focuses on discussing the primary disease burden of psoriasis and psoriatic arthropathy, as well as management of different types of pain in these patients. RECENT FINDINGS: Pain affects over 40% of patients with psoriasis, ranging from neuropathic to nociceptive. Treatment of pain largely focuses on treating the underlying disease with mild topical steroids and non-steroidal medications including vitamin D analogs followed by systemic immunomodulatory agents for more severe disease. Interventional options such as corticosteroid injections are available for select cases (conditional recommendation). Psoriasis and psoriatic arthropathy have been associated with underreporting and resultant undertreatment of pain. Pain control in these conditions is complex and requires a multidisciplinary approach. More research and guidelines are needed in the areas of reporting of psoriatic disease, associated pain, psoriatic nociception, and optimal clinical management.

Pain Control in Dermatologic Conditions.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pain management in dermatologic conditions can be complicated by the primary disease burden and associated decreased quality of life, disability, and psychosocial issues. This review focuses on pain management strategies in some of the more painful dermatologic conditions. RECENT FINDINGS: Pain management in painful dermatologic conditions such as pyoderma gangrenosum, postherpetic neuralgia, lower limb ulcers, and hidradenitis suppurativa revolves around treatment of the underlying disease process. Topical agents such as topical steroids and systemic immunosuppressants with over-the-counter analgesics usually suffice in mild to moderate pain. Severe pain may need neuropathic agents and referral to interventional pain physicians for consideration of advanced techniques such as epidural steroid injections and sympathetic nerve blocks. Part of the treatment process is for dermatologists to establish patient expectations and to treat pain within their scope of practice. More research is needed towards pain control in painful dermatologic conditions with elucidation of treatment algorithms unique to each condition.

Employment and Migration Patterns of Recent Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology Fellowship Graduates.

BACKGROUND: There is currently an uneven distribution of the Mohs surgery workforce, with a dearth in nonurban areas. The relationship between training and employment locations of Mohs surgeons has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the employment location of recent micrographic surgery and dermatologic oncology (MSDO) graduates in reference to residency and fellowship locations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data collection of training and practice locations of 421 MSDO fellowship graduates from 2012 to 2017. RESULTS: Thirty-two percent (n = 136) and 53% (n = 225) of MSDO fellowship graduates' first employment locations were located within 10 and 100 miles of either their residency or fellowship locations. Ninety-six percent of graduates were employed in a metropolitan location. Female graduates worked closer to training sites than male graduates, with 62% (n = 124) versus 46% (n = 102) working within 100 miles of either training site. Analysis by fellowship census region showed that graduates clustered around training sites in all regions, with 45% to 60% of graduates working within 100 miles of either training site. CONCLUSION: The majority of graduates chose to work in a metropolitan area. Training location strongly predicts employment location. More than 45% of graduates in any region worked within 100 miles of their residency or fellowship site, and a sizeable portion worked within 10 miles.

Perioperative Pain Management in the Critically Ill Patient.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The assessment and management of perioperative pain in an intensive care setting is complex and challenging, requiring several patient-specific considerations. Administering analgesia is difficult due to interacting effects of pre-existing conditions, interventions, and deviation from standard levels of expressiveness of pain. A significant part of this complexity also arises from the reduced capacity of critically ill patients to fully communicate the severity and nature of their pain. We provide an overview of pharmacological approaches and regional techniques, which can be employed alongside the management of anxiety and sleep, to alleviate pain in the critically ill patients in the perioperative period. These interventions require additional assessments unique to critical care, yet achieving pain relief for improving clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction remains a constant. RECENT FINDINGS: The latest research has found that the development of standardized mechanisms and protocols to optimize the diagnosis, assessment, and management of pain in the critically ill can provide the best outcomes. The numerical rating scale, critical care pain observation criteria, and behavior pain scale has shown higher reliability to accurately assess pain in the critically ill. Most importantly, preemptive analgesia and the emphasis on early pain control-in the perioperative setting, ICU, and post-discharge-are crucial in minimizing chronic post-discharge pain. Finally, the multimodal approach is still found to be the most effective. This includes pharmacological treatments, regional nerve block, and epidural techniques, as well as alternative methods that are cheap, safe, and easily available. All these together have shown to help control pain, provide psychological support, and prevent long-term co-morbidities in the critically ill. Largely, pain in the critically ill patient is still a very complex issue that requires appropriate diagnosis, assessment, and management of the pain itself and treating all the underlying co-morbidities as well. Many different factors makes it challenging, especially the difficulty in communicating with an ICU patient. However, by looking at the patient as a whole, treating pain early with the multimodal approach, there seems to be some promising results in improving outcomes. It has shown that the improved outcomes in critically ill patients in the perioperative period seen with optimized pain management and ICU can shorten hospital stays, decreased inpatient costs, and limit the use of limited resources.

New Advances in Acute Postoperative Pain Management.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Postoperative pain remains one of the most common challenges following inpatient and outpatient surgeries. With our advances in modern medicine, pain following surgical procedures still remains a challenge, though significant accomplishments have been made over the past few decades. This article highlights some of the promising new advances and approaches in postoperative pain management. RECENT FINDINGS: Over the last decade, Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) pathways and protocols are becoming the benchmark standards for enhancing postoperative recovery. Multimodal analgesia (MMA) is an essential component of such care. Further, in the wake of serious and persistent concern on the opioid epidemic in the USA, there has been a recent renewal of interest in non-opioid alternatives or adjuncts in controlling postoperative pain, often in the context of MMA. Intravenous (IV) acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), magnesium, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, liposomal bupivacaine, and newer neuraxial and peripheral regional techniques as well as patient-controlled modalities are gaining importance. Gabapentinoids have become popular but recent meta-analytic reviews have cast doubt on their routine use in perioperative settings. Among opioids, sublingual sufentanil, IV oxycodone, and iontophoretic transdermal fentanyl hold promise. Acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation may be useful as adjuncts in MMA packages. Genetic testing, derivatives of herbal preparations, and an extended role of acute pain services may emerge as potential areas of importance in the future. There are, however, critical gaps in good quality evidence in many of the practice guideline recommendations. In the era of opioid epidemic, several lines of evidence have emerged to support non-opioid-based drugs and approaches along with a few newer opioid formulations for postoperative pain management, although more research is needed to find the right balance of efficacy and safety.

The Opioid Crisis: a Comprehensive Overview.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The opioid crisis most likely is the most profound public health crisis our nation has faced. In 2015 alone, 52,000 people died of drug overdoses, with over 30,000 of those people dying from opioid drugs. A recent community forum led by the Cleveland Clinic contrasted this yearly death rate with the loss of 58,000 American lives in 4 years of the Vietnam War. The present review describes the origins of this opioid epidemic and provides context for our present circumstances. RECENT FINDINGS: Alarmingly, the overwhelming majority of opioid abusers begin their addiction with prescription medications, primarily for chronic pain. Chronic postoperative pain, which occurs in 10-50% of surgical patients, is a major concern in many types of surgery. Nationwide, the medical community has made it a priority to ensure that postsurgical analgesia is sufficient to control pain without increasing non-medically appropriate opioid use. The opioid epidemic remains a significant pressing issue and will not resolve easily. Numerous factors, including the inappropriate prescription of opioids, lack of understanding of the potential adverse effects of long-term therapy, opioid misuse, abuse, and dependence, have contributed to the current crisis.

Global Supply and Demand of Opioids for Pain Management.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The goal of this review is to evaluate the global supply and demand of opioids used for pain management and discuss how it relates to the utilization of opioids around the world. The purpose of the review is also to determine the factors that contribute to inappropriate pain management. RECENT FINDINGS: The total global production of opium for opioid manufacturing is enough to supply the growing global demands. However, licit opioids are only consumed by 20% of the world population. Most people throughout the world had no access to opioid analgesics for pain relief in case of need. Opioid misuse and abuse is not only a phenomena plague by the USA but globally across many countries. Many countries have a lack of availability of opioids, contributing factors being strict government regulations limiting access, lack of knowledge of the efficacy of opioid analgesics in treating acute and chronic pain and palliative care, and the stigma that opioids are highly addictive. For the countries in which opioids are readily available and prescribed heavily, diversion, misuse, abuse, and the resurgence of heroin have become problems leading to morbidity and mortality. It is pertinent to find a balance between having opioids accessible to patients in need, with ensuring that opioids are regulated along with other illicit drugs to decrease abuse potential.

Recommendations for Substance Abuse and Pain Control in Patients with Chronic Pain.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In the present investigation, current literature on the relationship between substance abuse and pain is evaluated in order to improve clinical management and its implications on the increasingly challenging chronic pain and substance abuse epidemic. The relationship between substance abuse and chronic pain are evaluated, and this review provides recommendations on the management of this special patient population. RECENT FINDINGS: Currently, there are limited guidelines for prescribing opioids and other analgesics in the chronic pain population. As this field of practice continues to evolve, it is essential for clinicians to serve as the gatekeepers to monitor for misuse and safety. Multiple studies have indicated that illicit drug use and opioid abuse affect over 9% of patients. Although there are numerous reasons for seeking illicit drugs and abusing them, it is essential that clinicians identify factors which place certain patients at high risk and accordingly, to screen these patients in order to optimize their management. The high prevalence of patients with chronic pain who also screen positive for drug use emphasizes the importance and increasingly pressing need to evaluate and to manage chronic pain in this population.