Pain management training
While hematologists are trained about the potential risks of common drugs such as steroids, “none of that education and training has occurred” for opioids, Dr. Meier said.
Dr. Diane E. Meier
Since hematologists often aren’t trained in pain management, many are uncomfortable with managing pain in their diagnosis and leave the responsibility to a pain specialist, Dr. Osunkwo said. “But the problem is, they know more about the disease than anybody else, and you’ll be safer if [they] are doing the pain management for hematology patients because they know the risk and benefit of the different drugs in light of the diagnosis itself, compared to passing that on to somebody else to manage.”
In the recent policy statement, ASH leaders committed to creating evidence-based guidelines and education activities on pain management.