Interdisciplinary Treatment for Chronic Pain: Is It Worth the Money?

Autor: Timothy S. Clark
Rok vydání: 2000
Předmět:
Zdroj: Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. 13:240-243
ISSN: 1525-3252
0899-8280
DOI: 10.1080/08998280.2000.11927682
Popis: Complex problems require complex solutions. As we have seen, chronic pain syndromes are complex biopsychosocial phenomena that develop over time. Conventional medical strategies designed for acute pain are often unhelpful and costly if patients have developed more chronic pain problems. Research studies have suggested that an interdisciplinary team is more effective than either serial multidisciplinary treatments or fragmented approaches toward care. Fortunately, the cost of interdisciplinary care is relatively low. Okifuji et al noted that interdisciplinary pain centers “have been more rigorously examined than most other treatment modalities used with chronic pain patients. More data are available for the efficacy of … [these centers] … than for any surgical procedures or conventional medical treatment for chronic pain” (3). Although time consuming and costly, treatments received at interdisciplinary pain centers “result in greater clinical effectiveness and cost savings than the alternatives” (3).
Databáze: OpenAIRE