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Welcome to Week 2

In this video, Drs Fausto Morell-Ducos and Dermot McGuckin introduce the topics which will be covered in Week 2 of Opioids and Surgery.

Welcome back to the second week of Opioids and Surgery!

As discussed last week, opioid use around the time of surgery is often essential to the provision of pain relief and for supporting rehabilitation and return to normal function. Opioids, however, can also be associated with significant patient and societal harm.

This week you will take a closer look at opioid drugs and how they exert their effects, both wanted and unwanted.

You will begin by exploring the history of opioid use in healthcare, dating back almost 6000 years.

You will also have the option of revising the basic pharmacological principles which underpin how the body handles drugs and how drugs exert their effect on the body.

Following this, you will learn how opioids work, delving deeper into how they act at opioid receptors, how the body processes different opioids and discussing the various uses of opioids in the perioperative period.

Finally, the focus turns to some of the problems associated with opioid use, including persistent postoperative opioid use and opioid use disorder.

We hope you enjoy the week!

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Opioids and Surgery

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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