Trends in the Prescription of Strong Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in Primary Care in Catalonia: Opicat-Padris-Project.

In chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP), evidence of the effectiveness of strong opioids (SO) is very limited. Despite this, their use is increasingly common. To examine SO prescriptions, we designed a descriptive, longitudinal, retrospective population-based study, including patients aged ≥15 years prescribed SO for ≥3 months continuously in 2013-2017 for CNCP in primary care in Catalonia. Of the 22,691 patients included, 17,509 (77.2%) were women, 10,585 (46.6%) were aged >80 years, and most had incomes of <€18,000 per year. The most common diagnoses were musculoskeletal diseases and psychiatric disorders. There was a predominance of transdermal fentanyl in the defined daily dose (DDD) per thousand inhabitants/day, with the greatest increase for tapentadol (312% increase). There was an increase of 66.89% in total DDD per thousand inhabitants/day for SO between 2013 (0.737) and 2017 (1.230). The mean daily oral morphine equivalent dose/day dispensed for all drugs was 83.09 mg. Transdermal fentanyl and immediate transmucosal release were the largest cost components. In conclusion, there was a sustained increase in the prescription of SO for CNCP, at high doses, and in mainly elderly patients, predominantly low-income women. The new SO are displacing other drugs.

Risk Prescriptions of Strong Opioids in the Treatment of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain by Primary Care Physicians in Catalonia: Opicat Padris Project.

The prescription of strong opioids (SO) for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is steadily increasing. This entails a high risk of adverse effects, a risk that increases with the concomitant prescription of SO with central nervous system depressant drugs and with the use of SO for non-recommended indications. In order to examine this concomitant risk prescription, we designed a descriptive, longitudinal, retrospective population-based study. Patients aged ≥15 years with a continued SO prescription for ≥3 months during 2013-2017 for CNCP were included. Of these, patients who had received concomitant prescriptions of SO and risk drugs (gabapentinoids, benzodiazepines and antidepressants) and those who had received immediate-release fentanyl (IRF) were selected. The study included 22,691 patients; 20,354 (89.7%) patients received concomitant risk prescriptions. Men and subjects with a higher socioeconomic status received fewer concomitant risk prescriptions. Benzodiazepines or Z-drugs were prescribed concomitantly with SO in 15,883 (70%) patients, antidepressants in 14,932 (65%) and gabapentinoids in 11,267 (49%), while 483 (21.32%) patients received IRF (2266 prescriptions in total) without a baseline SO. In conclusion, our study shows that a high percentage of patients prescribed SO for CNCP received concomitant prescriptions with known risks, as well as IRF for unauthorized indications.

[Primary care organization in pandemic times]. / Organización de la Atención Primaria en tiempos de pandemia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the adoption of drastic changes in primary care, modifying the organization and work dynamics previously established. From one day to the next, professionals had to adapt to the new situation to be able to attend cases and contacts tracing, to avoid contagion and to maintain attention to other health problems. At the beginning of the pandemic, professionals had to establish new practices and care circuits in primary care in an improvised way, due to lack of updated guidelines, without adequate means of protection, evaluating their risks and benefits on the fly. We present the main organizational changes in the first level of care and describe, from the point of view of patient safety and the consequences for patients and professionals of the priority care for COVID-19. Finally, we consider how to incorporate the knowledge acquired during the pandemic, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the adopted measures to maintain as much as possible a safe, accessible and quality primary care.

[Test to measure basic life support and defibrillation skills in primary care doctors and nurses]. / Test Raval Sud para medir habilidades de soporte vital básico y desfibrilación en médicos y enfermeras de atención primaria.

OBJECTIVE: To prepare and validate a tool to measure Basic Life Support (BLS) and semi-automatic defibrillator (SAD) skills adapted for use by health professionals in Primary Care Teams (PCT). To propose an updated version and demonstrate self-sufficiency of the team to use it in a training evaluation. DESIGN: Validation of measurement tools. Study of reliability with repeated measurements after a training course. SETTING: Drassanes Primary Care Centre. Raval Sud Basic Health Area. Barcelona. Spain. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 37 voluntary resuscitators (all doctors/nurses), professional camera, medical controller, computerised mannequin, 6 evaluators. INTERVENTIONS: Test preparation methodology. Cardiff Model 3.1. IMPLEMENTATION: 2 filmed series (professional+domestic), of 26-25 "station type" simulations, separated by 1 month. A training workshop between series. Retrospective evaluation of DVD recordings (5 evaluators). 2nd series scored again at 3 weeks with a blind and random order filmed version. VARIABLES: performances classified from worse to best execution. Psychometric analysis: Validity (content/apparent). Test-retest reliability, between-observer and sensitivity to change. RESULTS: Compared to the Cardiff test (46 items) our 83 item test contained 38(46%) new, 34(41%) modified and 11(13%) similar. Between-evaluator reliability, excellent/good in 51/62 items analysed; Within-evaluator and between-filming reliability, excellent/good in all except 1 item; the test score doubled after the training course. A version of the test according to BLS-SAD recommendations is proposed. CONCLUSIONS: On there not being useful tools available for Primary Care doctors and nurses, one has been prepared with adequate psychometric guarantees and proven self-sufficient evaluation. We propose the immediate application of the updated version for training evaluation purposes.