“It is unconscionable these people say the person in pain cannot say whether his pain was well managed or not,” said Reynolds. “Pain is what the person says it is, existing when he says it does. It is subjective. Only the person experiencing it knows if treatment was effective or not, as well as whether he was treated in a compassionate, empathic manor. “

The report’s recommendations -- which are being published in the journal of Population Health Management -- are very similar to guidelines released last month by the American Pain Society, which also promote the use of non-opioid medication for post-surgical pain.

“A wide variety of effective alternatives to opioids for pain management are available and patients need to be educated on what strategies are most appropriate for their procedure,” wrote Clark, who said in an email to Pain News Network the Jefferson College report did undergo peer review prior to publication.

The report calls for greater use of acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s) and preglabin (Lyrica) for post-surgical pain, as well as an injectable bupivacaine delivery system called Exparel that was developed by Pacira Pharmaceuticals, a New Jersey drug maker.

The report was sponsored by Pacira and the company’s vice-president of medical health sciences, Richard Scranton, MD, was one of its co-authors.

At times the report reads like a promotion for Exparel, calling it an “innovative delivery system” that achieves “effective pain relief at substantially smaller doses.”

“In the acute pain space, where patients now ask for drugs by name, there is unprecedented risk of overprescribing, overuse, and misuse—particularly of opioid drugs. Exparel is an opioid alternative with equivalent pain control that reduces the need for postsurgical opioids and devices,” the report says.

“There should have been a disclosure up front that the company sponsoring the study makes Exparel,” said Reynolds.