William O.
Witt, MD
Anesthesiology/Neurosurgery
&AdvAnces
Insights January 15, 2008
Caring for patients
with chronic benign pain
What the news
means for you
More than 50 million Americans are partially
or totally disabled by chronic,...
More
William O.
Witt, MD
Anesthesiology/Neurosurgery
&AdvAnces
Insights January 15, 2008
Caring for patients
with chronic benign pain
What the news
means for you
More than 50 million Americans are partially
or totally disabled by chronic, non-cancerrelated pain.
The annual health care cost
for these patients is more than $60 billion.
Yet despite the numbers affected and the
financial burden, the proper management of
chronic benign pain remains a challenge for
practitioners because it is complex and may
not respond well to therapy.
A survey of more than 700 primary care
physicians at 12 academic medical centers in
the United States revealed that most of the
physicians were not comfortable treating
patients with chronic benign pain.
The results,
published in the February 2007 issue of The
American Journal of the Medical Sciences,
found that intensive education after residency
in the treatment of pain significantly improved
the physicians’ comfort level.
M
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