Chronic pain has different causes, methods of diagnoses and interventions. Effective physicians understand these differences when they assess and manage their patient’s pain. This course will teach students how to make a proper assessment before treatment. 

Opioid medications are over prescribed for non-cancer, chronic pain patients. As a result, more Americans are addicted to prescription medication than to illegal drugs. The use of opioid medication will be addressed, but the focus of this course will be to teach students how to manage chronic pain and increase function without the use of opioids.

Physicians need to understand and work effectively with an inter-disciplinary team of health care professionals in order to provide the best possible pain management for their patients. This elective will help students understand how different specialists assess and treat chronic pain and how best to treat the whole patient, not just the pain syndrome. Students will spend one week with each of the following:

• family physician who uses acupuncture to treat chronic pain
• psychiatrist
• chiropractor
• pain specialist