American Pain Society Honors Clinical Centers of Excellence in Pain Management Award Recipients

Newswise — The American Pain Society (APS), www.ampainsoc.org, today honored the recipients of its third annual Clinical Centers of Excellence in Pain Management Awards recognizing the nation's outstanding pain care centers. Five multidisciplinary pain programs were feted. They are:

Beth Israel Medical Center, Dept. of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care, New York

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Pain Management Center, Houston

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

UCLA Pediatric Pain Program, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles

University of Virginia, Division in Pain Medicine, Charlottesville

Detailed award applications were judged by a panel of prominent pain management experts. APS established the program in 2006 to build awareness about progressive teams of health professionals who address critical, sometimes unmet, needs in pain management within their communities. Multidisciplinary programs available in the U.S. offering direct patient care in pain management are eligible to apply. Award recipients were honored at a gala during the APS Annual Scientific Conference.

"The Clinical Centers of Excellence Awards again drew applicants who had remarkable achievements in their pain management practices, providing relief and restoring everyday function to those who lives are burdened with persistent pain," said APS President Charles J. Inturrisi, PhD, professor of pharmacology at New York's Weill Cornell Medical Center.

"The quality of the submitted programs was superb and, as a pain-care researcher and teacher, I'm gratified to see such inspiring outcomes from our colleagues in multidisciplinary pain care teams throughout the country."

Inturrisi added that the Clinical Centers of Excellence Awards also support the ongoing advocacy mission of APS. "These awards highlight the benefits of the multidisciplinary approach to pain management for providing optimal care for those with myriad pain conditions," he said. A recurring quality of leading pain programs, Inturrisi noted, is success in helping patients enhance overall function and quality of life. "Combining cognitive-behavioral and physical therapies with medications and other modalities is the major advantage of the multidisciplinary approach -- treat the whole person, not just the pain."

Among the achievements of the organizations recognized by APS are:

* An innovative, responsive and convenient fast-track program led by nurse practitioners that improves follow-up pain care by expediting appointments, scheduling frequent visits for patients requiring extensive care, and creating an ambulatory clinic for home-hospice patients. All patients have access to services, with or without insurance, and inpatients are managed by the pain consult team. (Beth Israel Medical Center) * An interdisciplinary program founded on the belief that adequate pain management is essential for cancer treatment. It is focused on continuity of care in which the team oversees the assessment and management of cancer pain from the time of diagnosis, through treatment, during survivorship and at the end of life. Outside the hospital, there is close collaboration with hospice programs, support groups and rehabilitation centers. The team has authored a pain medicine guidebook that was distributed to more than 30,000 physicians in Texas. (M.D. Anderson Cancer Center)

* A physical medicine and rehabilitative approach that employs multidisciplinary care beginning with evaluations by a physiatrist, pain psychologist and vocational counselor. A wide range of treatments include pain-medicine management, interventional pain services, functional restoration, occupational therapy, pain psychology and relaxation training, and vocational rehabilitation services . (Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago)

* A landmark pediatric pain care program changing the paradigm for children's pain management, recovery and function. Initial consultations enable patients and their parents to share stories about pain and offer insights to the child's pain disability and potential ways to reduce suffering and enhance function. Treatment plans include medication, psychotherapy, family therapy, school reintegration planning, art and music therapy, yoga, to name a few. Treatments can be modified in weekly case discussions at team meetings. Practitioners work closely with referring physicians to keep the pain care plan focused and collaborative. (UCLA Pediatric Pain Program)

* A program committed to patient and professional education in which patients are educated thoroughly about their pain care, even to the point of sharing dictations to referring physician as a way to offer insight on treatment rationale.

The team organizes educational programs for case managers and nurse practitioners and is working to coordinate a regional consortium for pain fellows. Several faculty are co-investigators on a grant to develop teaching modules for family medicine residents, and they lecture regularly to groups of physicians, nurses and case managers.

About the American Pain SocietyBased in Glenview, Ill., the American Pain Society (APS) is a multidisciplinary community that brings together a diverse group of scientists, clinicians and other professionals to increase the knowledge of pain and transform public policy and clinical practice to reduce pain-related suffering. APS was founded in 1978 with 510 charter members. From the outset, the group was conceived as a multidisciplinary organization. APS has enjoyed solid growth since its early days and today has approximately 3,200 members. The Board of Directors includes physicians, nurses, psychologists, basic scientists, pharmacists, policy analysts and others.

Editor's note: For more information about each of the five honored pain programs, go to www.ampainsoc.org and click to the Press Room page.