|
Mission
Goals
Chairman's Message
Mission
IAPCD is committed to providing all members with an open forum for sharing information, resources, and experiences related to the effective management of chronic pain and chemical dependency, and to developing solutions required to overcome the ongoing and worldwide problem of undertreatment of chronic pain.
IAPCD is dedicated to:
- Bridging the issues associated with pain and chemical dependency to support improved therapeutic outcomes for all patients
- Taking a proactive stance to limit pain and potential chemical dependency to prescribed controlled analgesic substances
This type of forum is especially critical in a field where evidence-based clinical research is sorely needed. By building upon the excellent communications and advancements in knowledge that have occurred in the field of chronic pain and chemical dependency, IAPCD has established a series of goals that will ensure an active and ongoing contribution by the association to address the ongoing challenges of the undertreatment of chronic pain across the globe.
Top of page
Goals
IAPCD strives to provide members with the best known information relative to:
- Objective assessment of pain and its comorbidities
- Early and accurate diagnosis of pain and its comorbidities
- Appropriate, safe and effective prescribing, application of interventional procedures, and appropriate provision of adjuvant and complementary care
- Reassessment of pain and comorbidities coupled with ongoing monitoring of treatment and goal fulfillment
- Realization of evolving practice patterns for optimal future management of both pain and chemical dependency
- Developing strategies and practices that decrease the misuse or diversion of controlled substances while supporting their appropriate use in medical care
- Support health care professionals who undertake the difficult and sometimes controversial work of appropriate prescribing of controlled substances, such as opioid medications for patients with acute or chronic pain.
- Encourage interdisciplinary cooperation by including membership and educational opportunities for all professionals interested in the interfaces of pain and chemical dependency, including professionals in the fields of health care, policy and regulation, law enforcement, law, politics, media and others.
- Work across these disciplines to improve communication and education regarding the appropriate use of controlled substances in pain treatment. Therefore, another primary goal of the association is to provide education and competency training in areas associated with chemical dependency to minimize the potential for abuse, misuse, chemical dependency, and diversion of controlled substances.
Top of page
Chairman's Message: In Rich or Poor Countries, Treating Pain is the Objective for IAPCD
IAPCD members are aware that an aim of our organization is optimization of pain relief for all who need it. This is a noble, albeit challenging, aim and we must be forceful in advancing this objective. While the majority of members of the IAPCD come from the US, there are many members from more than a dozen other countries. That diversity of membership enables us to understand the specific regional differences in managing pain and provide members with appropriate support.
For richer countries, there may be many options to choose from when prescribing pain medication, yet practitioners confront a range of practical challenges, many of which are related to issues of abuse, misuse, and diversion. As a result, some patients may not receive adequate pain relief because their health care providers are reluctant to prescribe narcotic medications because it can lead to an unintended (and unwanted) set of bureaucratic or law enforcement interactions.
Many of the therapeutic options that challenge practitioners in developed nations are relatively expensive, so much so that many less well-off nations simply cannot afford these formulations. As addressed at our last conference, some countries may be able to produce morphine, but are not able to provide it therapeutically in a meaningful way to the citizens of their countries. In some countries, lesser quality drugs are used for chronic nonmalignant pain simply because of cost considerations. In many countries, however, no analgesic medication is available. This is a concern for all of us as we have an obligation as an organization to help those countries and patients who are in need.
The problems facing practitioners in other countries are also formidable and we need to bear this in mind at all times. I recently visited Vietnam, a country that has many veterans of war resulting from 30 years of warfare, but little in the way of pain relief for those with chronic pain due to cost and other considerations. Vietnam is, however, catching up fast and will soon be looking at improved health care outcomes.
The world now has an outstanding and cheap drug in the form of methadone which can be used in some of the poorer countries, but many of these countries are fearful of using such medication, partly because of diversion and abuse, and partly because there is little information available for local practitioners to use the medication properly. As an organization, IAPCD needs to look more broadly to see where it can assist poorer countries and where we can help educate prescribers on the safe use of this and other medications.
The IAPCD formally began to function just two years ago. Since then, we have developed into a professional association. We have been part of a large, important international conference, and we are now in the process of developing systems, programs, and processes that will allow us to meet our organizational mission.
The IAPCD has been developing an administrative expertise with aims extending to appropriate websites and information dissemination which we hope will allow better prescribing wherever in the world pain relieving medications are required. Your administrative staffs have been working diligently toward improving our office function, and our next big challenge is to obtain appropriate funding to bring all our ideas to fruition, including the promulgation of our message of appropriate pain management to practitioners in all countries - rich and poor.
IAPCD is a rapidly growing group of health care professionals, scientists, policy makers, and members of the regulatory and legal community who share an interest in the safe and effective treatment of pain and chemical dependency.
Because the challenges of managing pain and chemical dependency are universal, IAPCD seeks to bring together those professionals from around the world who influence pain management and chemical dependency, and are responsible for moving forward the critical goals of improved pain management and, therefore, patient outcomes.
In light of the growing prevalence of pain and the increase of misuse of prescribed controlled substances, IAPCD also addresses the potential impact of abuse, misuse, chemical dependency, and diversion of addictive substances from clinical and societal perspectives.
Top of page
|
