Pain Medicine
As physicians on the front lines of our opioid epidemic, can we agree to demand a better way to measure and track opioid use? Matt McCord MD
HWN Suggests
Cultural Myths, Flexible Standards And Other Impediments To Pain Management
Over the past 60 years we have watched the “death of the absolute” in pain management. This has led to more flexibility in moral and ethical values, but also more ambiguity in behavioral guidelines and standards. One of the many places where lack of the absolute is evident is in determining the proper dose of pain medication.
As a pain management specialist, I am faced almost daily with trying to determine the appropriate pain management for patients. What dosage of pain medication should I prescribe for pain relief? How much weight…
Featured
Genetic Testing in Pain Medicine—The Future Is Coming
Targeted pain therapies and screening for personality traits that may influence pain perception and addiction risk are just some of the potential promises of genetic testing in pain management.
The Long History of Discrimination in Pain Medicine
X-rays and other “objective" instruments influenced controversies about whose pain should be believed.
Articles of Interest
A lawyer provides pain management tips for doctors
Here are some ideas on how physicians might protect themselves from drug-seeking patients. These are tips I give to physicians I advise on this issue. Use the ones you want to and feel free to pare it down.
Electronic Medical Records: Promises, Pitfalls, and Pearls for Pain Physicians
Among physicians today, few topics are as controversial as electronic medical records (EMRs). The opportunity to improve medical care through digital records is almost universally recognized, but the reality often falls short of the potential.
Is the use of marijuana for chronic pain leading us down a familiar path?
This situation reminds me of the '90s when we embraced opioid use for the treatment of non-cancer chronic pain without the appropriate long-term studies. I hope that we are not making the same mistake with marijuana now.
Pain Specialist: Many Doctors Underprescribe For Chronic Pain
He believes many chronic pain patients are actually undertreated for legitimate, life-altering pain, and that their experiences are being left out of the current conversation about opioids.
Rethinking the Pain Puzzle
Pain is a puzzle to be solved. Pain deserves our attention — our full attention. Pain is not merely a symptom to be suppressed; it is a signal arising from a complex system of integrated networks known as the human body.
Treatment of chronic pain puts doctors in a no win situation
Treatment of chronic pain is the scenario that puts me and every practicing primary care physician in a no-win situation regularly in the office. To try to make physicians feel more comfortable treating pain most states have tried to legislate guidelines. They have been less than reassuring.
Resources
Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question
Don’t prescribe opioid analgesics as first-line therapy to treat chronic non-cancer pain...
Pain Dr.
This “Pain Chatter” blog is designed to be a forum in which pharmacists, pharmacy students, pharmacy residents, and other healthcare clinicians can share their pain management experiences, news, events, questions, comments or general thoughts and opinions regarding pain therapeutics.
Pain Matters
Having the right resources can help foster productive dialogue with people affected by pain and support responsible pain management. Find tools here to help grow your understanding of the evolving pain care landscape and to share with your patients.
Pain News Network
Pain News Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit online news source for information and commentary about chronic pain and pain management. Our mission is to raise awareness about chronic pain, and to connect and educate pain sufferers, caregivers, healthcare providers and the public about the pain experience.
PainEDU
PainEDU is an educational website for clinicians, to enhance understanding of pain management through interviews, articles, educational courses, and case studies.
Practical Pain Management
Practical Pain Management keeps the practitioner in mind. PPM strives to provide practicing pain specialists, including PCPs, rheumatologists, pediatricians, orthopedics, neurologists, and emergency medicine specialists—in short, clinicians on the front lines of pain—with practical clinical information on a variety of pain topics.
