All pain-management programs noted thus far directly support the Interdisciplinary Pain Management Centers (IPMC) being established at major Army medical centers throughout the DoD. The Navy is building similar centers termed R4s (Readiness, Restoration of Function, Relief of Pain and Research). These pain-management centers are designed to be interdisciplinary and patient-centered in their approach. One important goal of these centers is the amalgamation of interventional pain medicine with selected integrative medicine therapies such as acupuncture, yoga, medical massage and biofeedback. Not only are patients increasingly demanding the availability of these options, but evidence continues to mount that these less invasive and less-expensive approaches can be effective for a variety of pain conditions. Coupled with the new standards for data collection and utilization exemplified by the DVPRS and PASTOR/PROMIS, along with new, mutually supportive, specialist/primary-care knowledge networks, the next decade is set for unprecedented advancement in the field of pain management for warriors and their families.

Look for these changes in the coming months within your federal healthcare facilities. Because pain management crosses all medical specialty boundaries, these enhancements to care will be far reaching in scope and meaningful to all manner of providers.

 References

¹Pain Management Task Force – Final Report.  May 2010 (http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/reports/reports.html-- accessed Oct. 19, 2012.

²Buckenmaier CC III, Galloway KT, Polomano RC, McDuffie M, Kwon N, Gallagher RM. Preliminary validation of the defense and veterans’ pain rating scale (DVPRS) with a military population. Pain Medicine – Accepted for publication October 2012.

³http://echo.unm.edu/ - accessed 29 October 2012

⁴Arora S, Thornton K, Murata G, Deming P, Kalishman S, Dion D, Parish B, Burke T, Pak W, Dunkelberg J, Kistin M, Brown J, Jenkusky S, Komaromy M, Qualls C. Outcomes of treatment for hepatitis C virus infection by primary-care providers. N Engl J Med. 2011 Jun 9;364(23):2199-207.

⁵http://www.mss.northwestern.edu/Grants%20and%20Research/PROMIS%20Pain.html – accessed Oct. 29, 2012. Fig. 1. Defense and Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management.