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September 1997
Volume 61 |
Number 9
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Breaking
D
O
W
N
the Barriers to Pain Management |
Just about everyone experiences pain sometime in their life.
It afflicts one in three Americans for weeks, months or even years
at a time and is estimated to cost the public $120 billion annually.
On July 17, 1997, in New York City, the American Medical Association
(AMA) sponsored a media briefing titled "Pain: How to Take
Control and Stop the Agony." Anesthesiologists on the panel
of pain experts included ASA President Phillip O. Bridenbaugh,
M.D., University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati,
Ohio, and F. Michael Ferrante, M.D., University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine, Philadelphia, who served as the program's
moderator.
More than 40 print and broadcast journalists attended the briefing,
which covered such topics as "How Pain Differs in Men and
Women" presented by Dr. Ferrante, "Barriers to Receiving
Appropriate Pain Treatment" presented by Dr. Bridenbaugh,
"New Options and Trends in Pain Management," "Loss
of Productivity Due to Pain" and "Awareness of the Side
Effects of Pain Medications."
Dr. Bridenbaugh told the assembled journalists that patients
face and sometimes create several barriers in obtaining appropriate
and effective pain treatment. One barrier is created by those
patients who fail to take their prescribed pain medications out
of fear of becoming addicted. Other health care professionals
can create barriers if they do not have the knowledge to assess
and properly treat the patient's pain. Other barriers imposed
on patients come from managed care organizations that, all too
frequently, refuse coverage to pain patients or give a low priority
to patients in need of cancer pain treatment, he said. State and
federal regulatory agencies also set up barriers through the restrictive
regulations physicians face concerning the dispensing of narcotics.
A number of background materials were given to the medical writers
and journalists attending the briefing, including ASA's patient
education brochure "The Management of Pain" and "Practice
Guidelines for Cancer Pain Management."
Many of the journalists in attendance write for magazines, and
it is anticipated that pain-related articles may be appearing
in many consumer magazines in the months ahead. Several newspapers
have already run articles on the topics covered at the briefing.
The national cable television network MSNBC did a live interview
with anesthesiologist Patrick K. Birmingham, M.D., from Children's
Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, about pediatric pain management.
Other panelists presenting information at the media briefing
were: Nelson Hendler, M.D., Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore,
Maryland; Michael B. Kimmey, M.D., University of Washington Medical
Center, Seattle, Washington; and Norman J. Marcus, M.D., Lenox
Hill Hospital, New York, New York.
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