Need for Pain and Palliative Care Mentorship Addressed at PAINweek 2009

B. Eliot Cole, MD, MPA, CPE, and Marco Pappagallo, MD, Present Partnering Primary Care Physicians with Pain Specialists

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) September 12, 2009 -- PAINWeek® 2009, the national conference for frontline practitioners, featured Dr. B. Eliot Cole, MD, MPA, CPE, and Dr. Marco Pappagallo, MD, teaching a Master Class that addressed the need for pain mentorship among physicians practicing pain management. Dr. Cole is Executive Director of the American Society of Pain Educators and Dr. Pappagallo is Director of Pain Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

PAINWeek conducted a pre-conference survey directed at several hundred physicians. The results of the survey validated the need for a pain mentorship approach to pain management education. The survey revealed that 47% of physicians did not receive formal training about pain and palliative care in their professional education; 64% said that they see the greatest need for a mentoring program is in outpatient (office-based) practice; 46% said that they would request a mentor if this program were to become available; and 42% said they would serve as a mentor.

Drs. Cole and Pappagallo spoke to the need for pain mentoring for primary care physicians and creating a "medical home" for patients suffering from chronic pain. This course addressed patient features suggesting the transition from acute to persistent pain, knowledge gaps faced by primary care physicians regarding pain and its management, and strategies for partnering pain specialists with primary care physicians to provide more effective management of pain.

Drs. Cole and Pappagallo are currently developing plans to establish a Pain Mentorship Institute with locations in the United States and Western Europe, with an initial focus on sites in New York and Italy. Dr. Pappagallo has begun discussions in Florence and Rome, respectively with several prominent medical, media, and pharmaceutical industry professionals such as William Raffaeli, Presidente Fondazione ISAL, Sergio Zavoli, Presidente della Commissione Vigilanza RAI, and Domenico Pecorini, Direttore di Fondazione Parco Biomedico San Raffaele and Professor Rosanna Cervo of La Sapienza, University of Rome. Interest in developing the Pain Mentorship Institute has grown due to Italy's rapidly aging population and the increased demand for medications. In June 2009, Fondazione ISAL launched "Cento Citta Contro il Dolore," (100 Cities Against Pain) where they presented "Manifesto Contro il Dolore" (Manifesto Against Pain). Drs. Pappagallo Cole hope to build upon this growing interest in pain management and develop the Pain Mentorship Institute in cooperation with university medical schools in the US and Italy.

About PAINWeek:
PAINWeek® 2009 hosts its largest event ever, welcoming over 1000 healthcare professionals to a four-day conference with over 75+ hours of continuing medical education (CE/CME) for frontline practitioners, including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, physical therapists, dentists, complementary and alternative practitioners, and others who treat pain. The conference is annually held at the Red Rock Casino, Resort, and Spa in Las Vegas; this year the conference dates are Wednesday, September 9, to Saturday, September 12. The convention floor of the Red Rock is filled to capacity with sessions, symposia, exhibits, nonprofit and corporate-sponsored events, abstract presentations, and much more.

For more information, visit www.painweek.org.

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Aventine HealthSciences
Debra Weiner
973-233-4459
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