Rediscovery of Methadone to Improve Outcomes in Pain Management - CRNA Knowledge Network
Rediscovery of Methadone to Improve Outcomes in Pain Management
Methadone has been widely used in opioid maintenance therapy. Its unique analgesic properties provide several important benefits in acute and chronic pain management. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated the superiority of methadone as an effective analgesic in various surgeries in adult and pediatric surgical population. Furthermore, meta-analysis has supported the use of methadone as a good alternative for patients in the perioperative period. The use of methadone has shown to decrease postoperative pain score, reduce opioid consumption and to increase patients' satisfaction. In this presentation, methadone's pharmacology and pharmacokinetics will be reviewed. Current literature review on the use of methadone in acute and chronic pain management will be discussed. Lastly, pain management options and guidelines for the surgical patients on methadone will be reviewed.
Identify methadones pharmacology pharmacokinetics and analgesic efficacy and side effects compared to other opioids.
Understand the current evidencebased practice in adults and pediatric patients with the use of methadone in acute and chronic pain management.
Identify the current recommendations on surgical patients who are on maintenance methadone.
Sarah Zhang, CRNA, PhD
Assistant Professor Samuel Merritt University
Sarah Jingying Zhang is a senior nurse anesthetist working in the department of anesthesiology at UCSF. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Samuel Merritt University. Prior to becoming a CRNA, she completed her Master and PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. She continued her research training as a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University and followed by UCSF/VA hospital. She has multiple publications in top peer reviewed journals and presented her research at several national biomedical science conferences. She also serves as a reviewer of American Association of Nurse Anesthetist. Currently she is working on two prospective clinical trials at UCSF.