A Call to Revolutionize Chronic Pain

**Nate** · #1 07-27-2010, 10:42 AM

A Call to Revolutionize Chronic Pain

By valeri On July 26, 2010

"A recent report from the May Day Fund calls for chronic pain to be addressed in healthcare reform and better training of doctors on treating it because it is estimated that one out of every four Americans suffers from chronic pain. This ranges from headaches to back pain to joint pain.
The Mayday Fund, a family foundation dedicated to reducing human suffering caused by pain, convened a special committee to explore issues related to pain and the practice of medicine. The panel of adult and pediatric pain experts, which included anesthesiologists, neurologists, primary care doctors, emergency physicians, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, and patient advocates, deliberated at a one-day meeting held in Washington, D.C in June, 2009. The report is an outcome of that meeting.
The panel of experts report that inefficiencies in treatment and inequities in care are creating what they call an “epidemic of under-treatment.”
Some of the background as noted in the report:
Chronic pain—commonly defined as pain persisting longer than six months—affects an estimated 70 million Americans and is a tragically overlooked public health problem. The burden of chronic pain is greater than that of diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. Ongoing pain can also undermine overall physical, psychological, and social well-being, and is a major cause of disability and costly health care utilization.
Most people in pain, including those with chronic symptoms, go to primary care providers to get relief. But current systems of care do not adequately train or support internists, family physicians and pediatricians, the other health care providers who provide primary care in meeting the challenge of treating pain as a chronic illness..."

Click on the link for the full article:
http://freelanceblogging.easyonlinejobsreview.com/a-call-to-revolutionize-chronic-pain/

**Nate** · #2 07-27-2010, 12:52 PM

Done and done

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