Two Yale affiliates traveled to Spain in November to present their research on the clinical efficacy of urine toxicology in pain management.
The two — Dr. Nalini Vadivelu, professor of anesthesiology at the Yale School of Medicine, and Yale College senior Isabel Chen (who is also a member of the Class of 2011 in the School of Public Health) — co-authored an article titled "The Implications of Urine Testing in Pain Management" with anesthesiologists Maria Teresa Gudin and Esperenza Ortigoso, both at the Hospital Universitario de Getafe in Spain.
The researchers' article cites urine toxicology analysis in clinical medicine as a valuable resource for pain management. They note that while pain medications can provide effective treatment, they can also threaten health if patients' prescriptions and regimens are not closely monitored. The integration of random urine testing into pain management and patient medical histories, they argue, provides a cost-effective, sensitive and efficient addition to the existing drug-monitoring tools, such as blood, hair and sweat tests.
The researchers at Yale and in Spain hope that their collaboration will help improve anesthetic methods and inspire future international collaborations between their hospitals.
Chen's participation in the presentations was sponsored by Paul Hudak, master of Saybrook College.