Chronic Pain

Patients with chronic pain present a unique set of challenges to the primary care clinician. In Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide to Practical Management, leading pain specialist Dawn A. Marcus, MD, offers practical, clear, and succinct evidence-based approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of the myriad of painful conditions clinicians see in their offices every day, such as headache, back pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and abdominal pain. Using an engaging case-based approach, the author simplifies the often complex care of patients with chronic pain by providing practical strategies for targeting important symptoms, establishing realistic treatment goals, and efficiently and effectively managing patients. Clinic-friendly instructional sheets (questionnaires, diaries, and chart documentation tools) can be copied directly from the book and used for both education and the monitoring of therapeutic compliance and response. Importantly, Dr. Marcus offers all of these practical applications in the context of the busy office practice. The author also presents invaluable guidelines for prescribing medications and nonmedicative therapies, and provides descriptions, illustrations, and diagnostic criteria to help identify specific, commonly occurring syndromes that produce chronic pain. Additional features include sections on opioid therapy and on chronic pain in special patient groups such as children and adolescents, pregnant women, and geriatrics. Also included is a value-added compact disk containing a companion ebook version of the book for downloading and use in the reader's computer or PDA, and continuing medical education (CME) questions that provide the opportunity to acquire 5 AMA/PRA category 1 CME credits from the American Society of Contemporary Medicine and Surgery. Comprehensive and case-oriented, Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide to Practical Management offers busy health care providers a practice-friendly approach to assessing and managing the often complex and time-consuming problems of chronic pain.