May 2007
In
this issue…
Youngster’s
battle with sickle cell anemia is inspiration for others
Nursing
Home Residents in Pain
Massage
and acupuncture reduce pain after cancer surgery
Military
and Veterans Pain Care Act of 2007
Youngster’s
battle with sickle cell anemia is inspiration for others
Twice-a-week
physical therapy sessions and monthly blood transfusions have become a way
of life for 12-year-old Caleb
Booker of Portageville. The Portageville Middle School student, who is
the son of Roy and DeLois Booker, was diagnosed at birth with sickle cell
disease, a painful and debilitating blood disorder that primarily affects
the black population.
“With
sickle cell, mom and dad are both a carrier of the gene and have a one
-in-four chance of having a child with sickle cell disease,” DeLois
Booker said. In a person who has sickle cell, the red blood cells that
carry oxygen flatten out, or take the shape of a sickle, which is how the
disease received its name, Booker explained.
Reprinted from Sickle Cell eNewsletter April 2007.
New
Book for Families - “My Sickle Cell: A family’s Journey Living
Everyday with Sickle Cell Disease”
This book was written from a child’s perspective with the intention of inspiring other families that are faced with a loved one that has or has been diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease. It gives an account of day-to-day struggles in dealing with the disease. It also tells of the impact it has had on her family members. Ordering information is available online.
Nursing
Home Residents in Pain
A
study
from England finds an epidemic of untreated pain in care homes.
Seventy-four
percent of residents were found suffering with pain. You can read the full
story on the BBC News Web
site.
You can also watch an online video which interviews a family member of a nursing home resident who died in pain.
Massage
and acupuncture reduce pain after cancer surgery
Massage
and acupuncture are effective in decreasing pain and depression following
surgery in cancer patients, according to a UCSF study.
The
findings of the randomized controlled clinical trial are reported in the
March 2007 issue of the “Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.”
“This
pilot study confirmed that pain after surgery decreased when patients
underwent a combination of massage and acupuncture. This is a significant
finding because there are implications for further study to see if these
therapies should be offered to hospitalized patients for symptom
management,” said Wolf Mehling, MD, lead author and UCSF assistant
professor of family and community medicine.
You can view the article in its entirety on the eMaxHealth.com Web site.
Military
and Veterans Pain Care Act of 2007
SUMMARY
Section 1: Short Title
Provides that the title of the bill shall be the “Military and Veterans
Pain Care Act of 2007.”
Section 2: Findings
Include findings with respect to:
·
Acute and chronic pain
as prevalent among those wounded in combat
·
Chronic pain as a cause
of disability in the veteran population
·
Pain care as a priority
of the DOD and VA health and medical systems
Section 3: Pain Care Initiative in Military Health Facilities Requires the
Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a pain care initiative in
all military health care facilities to ensure that all personnel receiving
treatment in military health care facilities are assessed for pain at the
time of admission or initial treatment, and that they receive appropriate
pain care.
Section 4: Pain Care Standards in Tricare Plans
Requires similar protections for military personnel and dependents
enrolled in Tricare plans.
Section 5: Pain Care Initiative in Veterans Health Care Facilities
Requires the Secretary of the VA to develop and implement a pain care
initiative in all VA health care facilities to ensure that all veterans
receiving treatment in those facilities are assessed for pain at the time
of admission or initial treatment, and that they receive appropriate pain
care.
Reprinted from the American Pain Foundation Web site.
Palliative
Medicine “Little-Known But Fast-Growing”
“Teaming
up to ease the pain; palliative care comforts patients while easing burden
on caregivers,” recently appeared in USA Today. To demonstrate
how palliative care is delivered, the article includes the story of one
family’s experience with palliative care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical
Center. According to the article, palliative care “addresses two related
problems for cancer patients: poor coordination in the health care system
and the heavy burden faced by caregivers.”
Palliative
care, unlike hospice, can be offered to any patient diagnosed with a
serious illness. Palliative care focuses on both “relieving symptoms and
improving quality of life in the seriously ill.” Patrick Coyne, clinical
director of palliative care at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey
Cancer Center in Richmond, notes that palliative care is “one of the few
areas of medicine practiced as a team” and this team creates a care plan
that is goal-oriented. With the projected increases in chronic illnesses,
says the article, the need for palliative care is expected to grow.
Thomas
Smith, chairman of hematology/oncology and palliative care at the Richmond
cancer center, says that offering palliative care saves money in a variety
of ways and allows hospitals to “recoup their investments in palliative
care.” One 2003 study revealed that when patients were transferred from
regular hospital floors to palliative care units, costs were cut by 57%.
“While his unit makes only a small profit—about $20,000—Smith says
it saves the hospital about $1 million a year.” Smith explains that
these cost savings are possible because:
·
Palliative care improves coordination of care and saves on staff
time and tests costs.
·
Palliative care aligns with patients’ values and “lets
terminally ill patients decline invasive procedures they may not really
want.”
·
Palliative care prevents crises and there are fewer returns to the
emergency room.
According to the Center to Advance Palliative Care, currently about 30%, or 1,240, of hospitals offer palliative medicine. This number has nearly doubled since 2000. The article also notes, though, that patients outside of hospital care deserve coordinated care and Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth, says that this can be challenging. “At the moment, the whole American system works against you.” says Byock. “That can change, and it must change. Consumers will have to demand it.”
(USA Today, 4/26)
Pain Notes
·
The retrial of physician William Hurwitz has once again ended with
Hurwitz found guilty of 16 counts of drug trafficking. Pain management
advocates have supported Hurwitz, while federal prosecutors have called
him a “common drug dealer.” (The
Washington Post, 4/28)
·
The York Dispatch (Pennsylvania) published an opinion by
Ronald Fraser, PhD, DKT Liberty Project, who says the there is a war
against pain doctors and their patients. Fraser shares about a new book by
John Flannery, “Pain in America, and How Government Makes it Worse.”
The book says that the DEA “seems to have as its objective controlling
the relationship between the physician and the chronic pain patient by
criminalizing the prescription of narcotics and discouraging the existence
of any physician-patient relationship by which to heal the chronic
pain.” Fraser believes that “drug laws have become a cover for the
erosion of civil rights once protected by the U.S. Constitution.” (The
York Dispatch, 4/17)
Reprinted from The Carolinas Center Weekly Updates 4/2007
The
American Pain Foundation has another on-line resource for those coping
with cancer pain. Cancer
Pain: Your Guide to Relief™
provides information, coping strategies and tools to help cancer patients
and their caregivers understand the basics of pain management
and better communicate with their doctors. This has personal stories,
medication fact sheets, reporting & management tools and tips on how
to work with your medical team. Learn more about cancer pain and what you
can do by reviewing the Spotlight on Cancer Pain section of our Web
site.
For
the month of May: BFB Tapes and CDs on Sale!
$5
Off each tape/CD OR Buy 3, Get One Free! Enjoy a large range of topics
and great speakers! Check out the online
listing.
This
applies to all recordings prior to December 2006.
The
2007 series is not on sale.
Tuesday,
May 22 from 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Deborah
Grassman, ARNP, VA Medical Center, Bay Pines, FL
Wellness
Coalition America 3rd Anniversary Celebration
Live
Auction and Band
May
31st
Charlotte,
NC
Putting
the Pieces Together: Update in Pain Management 2007
June
13 AM and PM sessions available
Room
300 - Oconee Memorial Hospital - Seneca, SC
Maribeth
Kowalski, BS, PharmD
Fee
$55 for non-members, $10 for AHEC members needing ACPE Pharmacy credit;
free for AHEC members who do not need ACPE Pharmacy Credit
Dialogue
for Action Colorectal Cancer
August
5th Reception Capital City Club, Columbia
August
6th Dialogue for Action Downtown Marriott, Columbia
September
16–18
Sunset
Beach, NC
September
27–28
Charlotte,
NC
Pain
Assessment for the Cognitively Impaired Patient
Pain
Scale and Assessment Resources:
State
of the Art Tools for Assessment of Pain in Nonverbal Adults
Herr
and Decker Acute Pain Management in Older Adults 
City
of Hope: Pain Assessment and the Cognitively Impaired
Course:
Breakfast
for Brainiacs®
on CD-Rom: Pain Assessment and the Cognitively Impaired Hospice Patient
Presented
by Stephen Marsh, MD
Again, please check out the SCPI webpage and consider saving this link to your Favorites so that we can keep you updated on the latest news, events and resources in Pain Management.
To
unsubscribe from the SCPI’s monthly E-Newsletter, please send an email
