Andrew J. Smith, MDCM

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health · Addictions Research Group

Objectives Despite the escalating public health emergency related to opioid-related deaths in Canada and the USA, opioids are essential for palliative care (PC) symptom management. Opioid safety is the prevention, identification and management of opioid-related harms. The Delphi technique was used to develop expert consensus recommendations about h...

Background Screening for problematic opioid use is increasingly recommended in patients receiving palliative care. Aim To identify tools used to assess for the presence or risk of problematic opioid use in palliative care. Design Scoping review. Data sources Bibliographic databases (inception to January 31, 2020), reference lists, and grey liter...

Introduction: Inadequate knowledge and training of healthcare providers are obstacles to effective chronic pain management. ECHO (extension for community healthcare outcomes) uses case-based learning and videoconferencing to connect specialists with providers in underserved areas. ECHO aims to increase capacity in managing complex cases in areas w...

Cannabinoids, when co-administered with opioids, may enable reduced opioid doses without loss of analgesic efficacy (ie an opioid-sparing effect). The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review to determine the opioid-sparing potential of cannabinoids. Eligible studies included pre-clinical and clinical studies for which the outcome was e...

Chronic pain is a prevalent and serious problem in the province of Ontario. Frontline primary care providers (PCPs) manage the majority of chronic pain patients, yet receive minimal training in chronic pain. ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Ontario Chronic Pain & Opioid Stewardship aims to address the problem of chronic pain manag...