Who is seen in Pain Clinics
Patients seen in Pain Clinics are those for whom the routine health care system has failed. They therefore demonstrate
many iatrogenic problems, both medical and surgical.
Patient with cancer pain. These patients will be investigated and studied to find ways of controlling their pain and improving
their quality off life. Most of them will get oral medication. Some of them will need special medication like narcotics to help
control their suffering. Other may need more specialized care, where some device will have to be implanted under the skin or some nerves or plexus will have to be burned. This is done with radiofrequency or neurolitic drugs. Other patients have
a long standing (more then 3 months) or chronic condition that causes pain. Among others the most common are low back pain, neck and shoulder pain migraine, Fibro Myalgia Syndrome and Pain caused by a diabetic neuropathy. Some patients suffer of severe pain of the face or Trigeminal Neuralgia; these patients are often suicidal because of the pain. The patient is studied extensively, often in a multidisciplinary setting. Research is constantly done, usually in the form of literature search via Medline on the Internet.
Description
Pain Clinic
The Pain Clinic is a place in the hospital where patients visit and or get treatment for their pain. The unit has two employees. One Anesthesiologist and a nurse. The clinic?s director is an anesthesiologist and this Pain Clinic is affiliated to the
DR Horacio Oduber Hospital. Most Specialties have use for the Pain Clinic. The specialist will either call the pain
specialist in consultation for a clinical pain or they will send the patient to make an appointment to see the Pain Clinic.
Especially those specialties that have patients with acute pain like a mother to be who is in labor; patients with cancer pain and patients that have chronic pain.
The difference between acute and chronic pain is that chronic pain has lasted more then 3 months, and the original
cause of the pain is not any more. The pain it self, which is usually a warning system, has become the problem. On the other hand, acute pain is usually peri-operative. Perhaps a patient in labor or a patient that has had some noxious stimulus like a heart attack or trauma or a severe burn. |