At the intersection of two substantial public health challenges, practitioners are faced with reducing suffering from pain while also minimizing harm associated with high-risk analgesics. Dr. Michele Matthews reviews the role of buprenorphine in acute and chronic pain management, the pharmacodynamics of buprenorphine, and clinical pearls for its use in practice.
SPEAKERS
Dr. Michele Matthews is Vice Chair and Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at MCPHS University in Boston and serves as co-chair of the University’s Opioid Task Force. She is an advanced practice pharmacist specializing in pain management and addiction medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). She participates in team-based care of patients with chronic non-cancer pain at the BWH Pain Management Center and has also implemented a pharmacist-run chronic pain management clinic embedded within the hospital’s largest primary care center where she has prescriptive authority under collaborative drug therapy management. She has also developed an innovative collaborative care model for the management of opioid use disorder within the primary care setting and serves as the care manager for this program.
Dr. Matthews has published several articles and book chapters on topics related to pain management and substance use disorders. She has also been involved with numerous research projects that have focused on interprofessional education and training for pain management and the pharmacist’s role in improving medication management in patients on high-risk medications. She currently serves as a co-investigator for an NIH Center of Excellence in Pain Education grant which was awarded to improve pain management education in medical, nursing, pharmacy, and dental schools.
Dr. Matthews is actively involved with several professional organizations, serving as a current member of the Opioid Task Force and former chair of the Section Advisory Group on Pain and Palliative Care for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. She is also past chair of the Pain and Palliative Care Practice and Research Network for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. She is a founding member of the Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists and currently serves as President-Elect.
Melanie R. Smith, Pharm.D., BCACP, DPLA is the Director of the ASHP Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners. In this role, Dr. Smith serves as the staff liaison to the Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners Executive Committee. She also acts as an ASHP information resource and provides guidance to ASHP members on pharmacy practice in various ambulatory care practice settings.
Previously, Dr. Smith was the Director, Educational Programs within ASHP's Educational Services Division. In this role, she helped coordinate continuing educational programming for ASHP's national meetings. Prior to joining ASHP, Dr. Smith was a Clinical Pharmacist II with United Healthcare as well as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist with the Roudebush VA Medical Center.
Dr. Smith received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of North Carolina and her Doctor of Pharmacy from Virginia Commonwealth University. She completed an ASHP-accredited PGY1 residency at the Lexington VA Medical Center in 2008 and obtained her Board Certification in Ambulatory Care in 2011.