Some care providers frustrated with chronic pain treatment

By Staff Writer

A study published in the November issue of the journal Pain Medicine has found chronic pain treatment takes a toll on primary care providers, as well as patients.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, what separates chronic from acute pain is that chronic pain persists. In some cases, there might not even be any evidence of body damage to accompany the pain.

In the study, researchers surveyed 20 primary care providers, who were asked open-ended questions regarding their experiences with chronic pain management. Their answers revealed feelings of frustration and negativity. A number of the participants criticized themselves or felt guilty because they felt they were unable to effectively treat patients with the condition.

The researchers explained that pain is subjective, and cannot be measured like blood pressure or cholesterol. A patient might rate their pain a four on a 10 point scale, while another might rate the same degree of pain as a six or seven. These types of difficulties led many care providers to feel a sense of dread when seeing a patient’s name on their schedule, knowing the meeting will be unsuccessful or potentially hostile.

Based on their findings, the researchers felt that strategies to ease the frustrations felt by both patients and their care providers may improve chronic pain treatment.