Need for Pain and Palliative Care Mentorship Addressed at PAI...( B. Eliot Col...),Health

B. Eliot Cole, MD, MPA, CPE, and Marco Pappagallo, MD, Present Partnering Primary Care Physicians with Pain Specialists

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) September 12, 2009 -- PAINWeek® 2009, the national conference for frontline practitioners, featured Dr. B. Eliot Cole, MD, MPA, CPE, and Dr. Marco Pappagallo, MD, teaching a Master Class that addressed the need for pain mentorship among physicians practicing pain management. Dr. Cole is Executive Director of the American Society of Pain Educators and Dr. Pappagallo is Director of Pain Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

PAINWeek conducted a pre-conference survey directed at several hundred physicians. The results of the survey validated the need for a pain mentorship approach to pain management education. The survey revealed that 47% of physicians did not receive formal training about pain and palliative care in their professional education; 64% said that they see the greatest need for a mentoring program is in outpatient (office-based) practice; 46% said that they would request a mentor if this program were to become available; and 42% said they would serve as a mentor.

Drs. Cole and Pappagallo spoke to the need for pain mentoring for primary care physicians and creating a "medical home" for patients suffering from chronic pain. This course addressed patient features suggesting the transition from acute to persistent pain, knowledge gaps faced by primary care physicians regarding pain and its management, and strategies for partnering pain specialists with primary care physicians to provide more effective management of pain.

Drs. Cole and Pappagallo are currently developing plans to establish a Pain Mentorship Institute with locations in the United States and Western Europe, with an initial focus on sites in New York and Italy. Dr. Pappagallo has begun discussions in Florence and Rome, res
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