NEJM Audio Summary - Jan 19, 2012

Excerpted Script

"Alleviating Suffering 101 — Pain Relief in the United States"
A perspective article by Philip Pizzo, from Stanford University School of Medicine, California.
The magnitude of pain in the United States is astounding. More than 116 million Americans have pain that persists for weeks to years. The total financial costs of this epidemic are $560 billion to $635 billion per year, according to the recent report of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that the authors cochaired. It concluded that relieving acute and chronic pain is a significant overlooked problem and that education is key to the cultural transformation required. Major impediments to relief include patients' limited access to clinicians who are knowledgeable about acute and chronic pain — owing in part to the prevalence of outmoded or unscientific knowledge and attitudes about pain. Many people with chronic pain simply don't know where to go for help, and when they do seek help, they may become frustrated, disappointed, or angry because of its limited effects or practitioners' perceived insensitivity. The IOM committee report offers 16 recommendations, provides a timeline for implementing them, and designates the groups responsible for doing so. Three recommendations address education as central to the necessary cultural transformation. Specifically, the committee recommended expanding and redesigning education programs to transform the understanding of pain, improving education for clinicians, and increasing the number of health professionals with advanced expertise in pain care.

確かに、痛みは目にも見えず、数量化も出来ず、共感に困難な症状である。告白すれば、ぎっくり腰や五十肩などのコモンな病気でさえ、本当に共感できるようになったのは、自分で体験してからである。
参照：Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research