The opioid needs for a palliative care patient do not follow the same rules as pain management. In this highlight from the 2020 Midyear Clinical Meeting, content matter experts from the Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners compare and contrast the difference in therapy goals between opioid tapering in the palliative care population and the general population and compare possible opioid tapering regimens for both a general population patient and a palliative care patient.
HOST
Vicki Basalyga, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCPPS, is the Director for the Section of Clinical Specialists and Scientists. In this role Vicki serves as an information resource and provides guidance to ASHP members regarding science and scientific developments affecting pharmacy practice in health systems. She serves as secretary to the Section executive committee and coordinates activities to accomplish the objectives established by the Section. Additionally, Vicki has assumed the position of Council Secretary for the ASHP's Council on Therapeutics.
Vicki received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Duquesne University and completed an ASHP accredited PGY1 at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Vicki is also a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and a Board Certified Pediatric Pharmacotherapy Specialist.
Prior to her current position at ASHP, Vicki practiced as critical care pharmacist in both the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Other activities Vicki performed included drafting policies and procedures, co-chairing the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, creating and drafting order sets for CPOE conversion and precepting residents and students.