Ninety Percent of Polled Pain Care Professionals Express Fear of ...( Delegates to PAINWeek 2007 Provide S...),Health

Delegates to PAINWeek 2007 Provide Sampling of Healthcare Professionals in

Context of Pain Management

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- When asked to assess their level of fear of government regulation of their pain management practices, nearly half of 200 health care professionals surveyed during PAINWeek 2007 said the threat of regulation had "significant" or "high" impact on their practice. Approximately 90 percent reported at least "low" impact.

The survey results come amid growing controversy surrounding use of opioids - the strongest class of painkillers - and physicians' willingness to prescribe them.

In March, the state of Washington became the first state in the nation to adopt a suggested daily limit on opioid doses.

"What is at stake here is the well-being of tens of millions of Americans who suffer with pain," explained American Society of Pain Educators Executive Director B. Eliot Cole, MD, MPA. "Clearly, increased regulation would have a disastrous, chilling effect on care givers' ability to manage patients' bona fide, diagnosed pain."

Additionally, when asked about the importance of putting oversight of medical decisions in the hands of medical professionals as opposed to law enforcement regulators, 69 percent of those surveyed called that "most important" to their ability to manage their patients' pain.

According to 43 percent of PAINWeek delegates, lack of adequate pain management education during their professional training has a high-impact on their ability to provide appropriate pain management to their patients.

Nearly a dozen national medical associations and 700 delegates devoted to the practice of pain management are gathered at PAINWeek 2007, the first conference of its kind, in Las Vegas. The four-day conference provides a unique environment for the participating organizations to share their expertise with frontline healthcare practitioners.

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