With the problem of addiction to
prescription medication, it comes as no surprise that physicians are not being properly trained in medical school to treat patients with chronic pain. On average, medical schools in the United States spend only seven hours devoted to the treatment of pain. There are almost 3,000 hours of teaching that medical school students complete before graduation.
Thanks to the work of a neurologist from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Dr. Beth Murinson, Johns Hopkins Medical School is one of four American medical schools to require their students to take an 18-hour course in pain. This is revolutionary, simply because in the past, medical schools only focused on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and conditions, not on the chronic pain that can often accompany those physical problems. The other medical schools now requiring the course are the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Chicago.
The American Board of Medical Specialties considers pain medicine a subspecialty of neurology, anesthesiology or physiatry, not an independent specialty. The American Board of Pain Medicine offers its own board examination, but to date, only 2,200 physicians in the United States have passed the exam. Because of this, only five percent of patients with chronic pain ever see a pain specialist and are often either misdiagnosed or live in complete misery.
Many people suffering from chronic pain are afraid for asking their physician to prescribe any medication because of the fear of becoming addicted to drugs like Oxycontin and Vicodin. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that there are about 5.3 million people abusing prescription painkillers. Most of these people did not intend to become addicted to the drugs, they just simply wanted relief from their daily dose of pain. Many people are unaware that alternative treatments like massage therapy and acupuncture can play a positive role in treating their pain. Finding a board-certified pain medicine physician is also an important step in treating
chronic pain.
For more information on locating a physician, go to
www.painmed.org.
