Pain Management Best Practices from Multispecialty Organizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Public Health Crises - Pain Medicine

Cohen S, Baber Z, Buvanedran A, Mclean b, chen y, hooten wm, laker s, wasan a, kennedy d, sandbrink f

It is nearly impossible to overestimate the burden of chronic pain, which is associated with enormous personal and socioeconomic costs. Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, is associated with multiple psychiatric comorbidities, and has been causally linked to the opioid crisis. Access to pain treatment has been called a fundamental human right by numerous organizations. The current COVID-19 pandemic has strained medical resources, creating a dilemma for physicians charged with the responsibility to limit spread of the contagion and to treat the patients they are entrusted to care for.

In these guidelines, we provide a framework for pain practitioners and institutions to balance the often-conflicting goals of risk mitigation for health care providers, risk mitigation for patients, conservation of resources, and access to pain management services. Specific issues discussed include general and intervention-specific risk mitigation, patient flow issues and staffing plans, telemedicine options, triaging recommendations, strategies to reduce psychological sequelae in health care providers, and resource utilization.

Pain Medicine, Volume 21, Issue 7, July 2020, Pages 1331–1346, https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnaa127