/R E P E A T -- Opioid Pain Medications Safe and Effective When Used
Appropriately/
- A response to the study on opioid analgesic related deaths in Ontario published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal -
"The solutions for this important societal problem are complex," said
In chronic pain, opioids work best when combined with a structured interdisciplinary, biopsychosocial treatment program," said Dr. Pat Morley-Forester, Director University of Western Ontario Interdisciplinary Pain Program. "It is unfortunate that in Ontario, the largest province in the country, there is not a single, publically funded, accessible, interdisciplinary pain management program. The one existing full service program serves only third-party funded patients creating a system of two-tiered pain treatment. Other pain management programs rely on a patchwork of funding sources that does not allow for best practice interdisciplinary care. Other provinces such as Alberta, Nova Scotia and
Up to one in four people who visit the emergency department complaining of pain, have chronic pain as a presenting problem. (Todd 2007) A survey conducted in 2007 and 2008 of more than 4,000 Canadians found that an estimated one in six Canadians - six million people - suffer from chronic pain (Nanos 2007-2008). Estimates place direct health care costs for
People living with chronic pain deserve access to best practice pain management - including the proper use of opioid analgesics when indicated.
About the Canadian Pain Society
The Canadian Pain Society has been a chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain since 1982. The aim of the CPS is to foster and encourage research on pain mechanisms and pain syndromes and to help improve the management of patients with acute and chronic pain by bringing together the basic scientists and health professionals of various disciplines and backgrounds who have an interest in pain research and management.
----------------------- (1) The economics of Chronic Pain CJ Phillips D Schopflocher (2008). In S Rashiq D Schopflocher, P Taenzer E Jonsson (Eds) Chronic Pain: A Health Policy Perspective. Weinham, Germany: Wiley-Blackwell.
For further information: or to schedule an interview: Emily Hanft, Rob McEwan, Argyle Communications, [email protected], [email protected], (416) 968-7311 ext. 228/242
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