“Suffer Not”

Recently, I was explaining to one of my residents that when I was a medical student in the 1990s, I really don ’t remember learning about or seeing many patients who were treated for chronic pain management. During my family medicine residency, I remember when the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations mandated that clinicians must consider pain as the “fifth vital sign.” At that point, pain assessments became ubiquitous, and not only did we recognize pain to a greater degree, but also we began to write many more prescriptions for pain medications, specifically opiates.

Source: Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice - August 29, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Joel J. Heidelbaugh Tags: Foreword Source Type: research