Primary Care Assessment & Management of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain

Abstract

Abstract Chronic nonmalignant pain is a commonly encountered clinical scenario in primary care. Many medical professional organizations have issued guidelines indicating that opioid analgesics are reasonable to consider as part of the management of moderate-to-severe chronic nonmalignant pain with functional impairment. This lecture presents an approach to the assessment and follow-up of chronic nonmalignant pain with a focus upon the appropriate prescribing and monitoring of opioid analgesics. Topics covered include dose titration, adverse effects, detection of abuse and dependence, the use of pain management agreements, and regulatory oversight. This is a topic area that creates significant anxiety and frustration for residents in the clinic. Residents and medical students have responded very favorably to this discussion; this talk uniformly receives 4s and 5s on a 5-point Likert scale, with an average overall score of 4.9.

Keywords

• Opioid-Related Disorders
• Analgesics
• Opioid
• Chronic Pain
• Dose Titration
• Pain Management Agreements