People do not have to live with pain.
By the time people see us they are frustrated and fed up. Pain has reduced their quality of life and they have often been told they have to live with pain. This is not always the case! We will strive to find a way to manage the pain.
Listen to your patients.
We need to remember that we are not just treating a pain problem; we are treating a person in pain. We need to understand the person who is suffering the pain before we can focus treatment on the pain.
There is no quick fix in managing pain.
Pain management is a marathon, not a race. It takes time and patients need to be just as committed to managing their pain as we are. Unfortunately, despite all our hard work we are unable to help every pain that we treat but this is usually the exception rather than the rule.
Build a team of experts.
Build relationships with other medical experts that can help you manage your patients when needed. This includes: neurosurgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, neurologists, rheumatologists, rehabilitation physicians, psychiatrists, GPs and other medical professionals. We use the right type of experts when needed.
The key:
Successful pain management requires 'the right treatment, for the right person, at the right time'.
