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LEADERSHIP COMPANY OVERVIEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS WEB BASED RESOURCES SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD |
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Web Based Resources A huge number of websites, textbooks, popular books and articles in biomedical journals describe every aspect of pain from perspectives of patients, their families, clinicians treating pain, and researchers. Javelin Pharmaceuticals' CEO/CMO has been privileged to work with all of the above groups, as well as with educators offering distance learning programs about pain through the University of Sydney, Australia and on-site instruction about pain research, education and policy at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. A starting place for patients and providers to learn about pain and its treatment is through websites of patient-centered organizations such as the American Chronic Pain Association, the American Cancer Society, or the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors — to name just a few of many organizations focused upon specific pain syndromes that may be identified through a Google search. Pain control is a key part of end-of-life and palliative care, resources about which include the Last Acts website of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, and the May Day Fund. The educated lay person will find ample information, including links to other sites, at the websites of professional organizations such as the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. The American Pain Society is a national chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). In its publications section the IASP's website offers free downloading of past issues of Pain: Clinical Updates. These brief articles on a range of pain-related topics are intended for front-line practitioners but many are also suitable for a more general audience. The 2004 Global Day Against Pain was a joint effort of IASP, the European Federation of IASP Chapters (EFIC), and the World Health Organization. Held in Geneva, Switzerland, it highlighted the major public health burden worldwide due to pain, based upon comprehensive data compiled by the WHO and EFIC about pain in HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, war trauma, and other conditions that produce suffering through pain. Several speakers at GDAP including Javelin's CEO/CMO cited data assembled by the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonprofit worldwide group devoted to summarizing clinical trials on the effects of interventions for a wide range of health problems. Cochrane collaborative review groups assess treatments for postoperative pain, nerve injury pain, spine pain, and palliative and end-of-life care. The central office of the Cochrane Collaboration is in Oxford, England; the Oxford Pain Relief Group offers another valuable website for those interested in pain and its treatment. Of governmental and nongovernmental organizations' websites, those of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality provide access to comprehensive literature syntheses on treatments for cancer pain, other cancer-related symptoms, or pain after spinal cord injury. The first clinical practice guidelines issued by the US government on pain-related topics focused on acute pain after operations or trauma; a quick reference guide and patient guide based upon that material are also available. Another US federal clinical practice guideline focused on the management of cancer pain. For that topic, too, a quick reference guide and patient guide are available. Although these two US federal guidelines on pain management are labeled as outdated because they were released a decade ago, a review of these sites by Javelin's CEO/CMO in 2005 indicates nothing that is out of date so as to compromise patient care. Other valuable English-language resources from governmental agencies and professional organizations outside of the United Kingdom cover a wide range of topics on assessment and treatment of pain. For example, well-researched materials are available through websites from Australia, Canada, and Israel. The above introduction to pain-related websites was prepared by Javelin's CEO/CMO. It is neither comprehensive nor systematic, nor can Javelin be held responsible for their content (over which it has no control). Several large pharmaceutical companies also host excellent websites of great educational value about pain. On the other hand, the urls provided above are links to the products of careful efforts not known to have any commercial bias. Information at other websites, such as those offering unproven treatments or products for sale, is notoriously inaccurate. Patients and their families should best adopt an attitude of skepticism before uncritically accepting web-based information. |
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