Organizing principles: Classifying pain for healthcare, research | Pain Research Forum

Where does it hurt? How bad does it hurt? Why does it hurt? The many inconsistent and inadequate ways of sorting chronic pain by anatomy, severity, and associated medical conditions are impeding the health and well-being of patients, optimal medical care, and treatment advances, say pain experts who are calling for a change. This spring, two major efforts are taking shape to fill a widely perceived need for standardized worldwide diagnostic criteria to classify all chronic pain conditions (Finnerup et al., 2013; IOM, 2011; Rief et al., 2012; Rief et al., 2010; von Hehn et al., 2012). One, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) Classification of Pain Diseases Task Force, is working under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO) to generate the first chapter dedicated to pain for the next revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The other springs from the work of the Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks (ACTTION) public-private partnership and the American Pain Society (APS) to create a comprehensive evidence-based taxonomy of acute and chronic pain conditions that reflects the latest data on symptom patterns, comorbidities, and pathophysiologic mechanisms. The independent initiatives share a similar broad goal to improve the understanding and treatment of pain through a comprehensi...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs