Tag Archives: @UCalgary

CMAJ Study Evaluates Risk of Health Outcomes after Opioids Prescribed in ER

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:

Dr. Innes

Grant Innes MD
Departments of Emergency Medicine and Community Health Sciences
University of Calgary, Calgary
Editor-in-Chief, The Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Opioid prescriptions for acute pain have been identified as a possible factor in opioid epidemic mortality. The proposed causal model is that physicians provide opioid prescriptions for acute pain, which lead to prescription opioid misuse followed by illicit opioid use, subsequent overdose and death.

This paradigm has driven widespread describing initiatives, including the elimination of opioids from emergency care (“opioid free emergency departments”), but there is no research describing the link between an opioid prescription for acute pain and downstream opioid-related harm. 

Our objectives were to quantify for emergency patients filling an opioid prescription the likelihood of adverse outcomes as well as the incremental risk to opioid-treated patients vs. propensity-matched controls.

Continue reading →

Adolescents View Overwhelming Lack of Empathy for Popular TV Characters Experiencing Pain

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Melanie Noel, PhD, RPsych
Professor of Clinical Psychology
University of Calgary
Full Member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and
Hotchkiss Brain Institute
Director, Alberta Children’s Pain Research Lab
at the Vi Riddell Pain & Rehabilitation Centre
Alberta Children’s Hospital in Canada.

PainRelief.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Response: We examined 10 movies and the first seasons of 6 TV Netflix shows based on popularity among adolescents.  

Across the 616 scenes showing painful events, the majority showed violence and injuries and not the kinds of pain kids experience in real life (e.g., medical procedures, chronic pain. Characters from marginalized (gender diverse, girls) and minoritized groups (individuals with racialized identities) were underrepresented.

Overall, there was an overwhelming LACK of empathy shown to characters observing others in pain. The media perpetuated gender and racialized stereotypes.

Pages: 1 2