New online resource to help bridge communication gap between healthcare professionals and pain patients

Let's Talk Pain is the first coalition to unite in an effort to help improve pain management

November 18, 2008

News Facts

• Let's Talk Pain is a coalition of leading pain advocacy organizations focused on increasing awareness and improving understanding of pain management.
• The Coalition's goal is to encourage people affected by pain and their healthcare professionals to talk more about pain, listen actively, and act in ways that improve care for the millions of people who live with pain.
• Let's Talk Pain created a new interactive Web site, www.letstalkpain.org, to provide visitors with comprehensive information and tools to help enhance the dialogue between those affected by pain and healthcare professionals.
• The Let's Talk Pain Coalition conducted a national online survey that investigated attitudes and behaviors of 500 pain patients and 275 physicians treating pain.
• The survey revealed the need for an increase in open and direct conversations about pain and highlighted the impact pain has on patients' quality of life. The findings also underscored a disconnect between how patients and physicians are communicating with each other. Click here to read key findings from the Let's Talk Pain survey.
• The Coalition is the first of its kind to bring together a diverse array of perspectives from those affected by pain: patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals include-but are not limited to-physicians, nurses, social workers, and therapists.
• Founding members of the Let's Talk Pain Coalition are the American Pain Foundation, the American Society for Pain Management Nursing, and the American Academy of Pain Management.
• PriCara™, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is the sponsor of the Coalition.
• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 10 adults in the U.S. has experienced pain that lasts a year or more.1

Communication Tips

Here are a few of the communication tips the Coalition suggests and more tips can be found on the Let's Talk Pain Web site:

• For Patients:
• Don't be afraid to speak up. Only you know the extent of your pain.
• Download a pain journal to record the frequency and intensity of your pain.
• Become familiar with pain terms and conditions and learn more about how pain is assessed.

• For Healthcare Professionals:
• Developing open lines of communication with patients is critical to achieving successful treatment outcomes.
• Know that simply acknowledging a patient's pain has been shown to have profound therapeutic results.
• Ask your patients questions about pain such as:
• Where is the location of your pain?; and
• What is the character of your pain?

Click here for more questions that healthcare professionals can ask their patients about pain.

Quotes, Photos and Bios

Dr. Scott Fishman, Chair and President of the American Pain Foundation and Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine and Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of California at Davis, is an expert featured on letstalkpain.org. Dr. Fishman appears in videos on the site offering expert perspective on how to improve conversations about pain:

• "Pain is one of the nation's leading public health problems, and it often goes under-treated. It is difficult to diagnose and challenging to talk about."
• "Open lines of communication and strong patient-professional relationships are what healthcare professionals strive for, and in pain management this is absolutely vital. This Coalition is exciting because it aims to help professionals and patients communicate better in order to help improve pain management."

Click here to read a bio of Dr. Scott Fishman.

Andrea Cooper, a Maryland-based artist who suffers from chronic pain, is featured in videos on the Let's Talk Pain Web site:

• "Pain is an invisible condition. I have learned that the best way to improve my health and my treatment outcome is through engaging in an open and personal dialogue with my healthcare professional and connecting with others to talk about pain."

Click here to download a high resolution photo of Andrea Cooper in her ai chi water therapy class.

Click here to read a bio of Andrea Cooper.

Please contact Lauren Hoffmann to arrange an interview and/or for additional quotes.

Videos & Audio Podcast

Dr. Scott Fishman videos:

• Click here to watch video of Dr. Scott Fishman talking about successful ways to treat pain.
• Click here to watch video of Dr. Fishman discussing the importance of listening to patients when they discuss pain.

Andrea Cooper videos:

• Click here to watch video of Andrea's experience with disease-related chronic pain and how her multimodal approach, which includes medication and ai chi, has helped her enjoy painting again.
• Click here to watch Andrea talking about being an advocate for herself in the doctor's office.

Logos & Member Boiler Plates

Click here to download the Let's Talk Pain logo.

About the American Pain Foundation

APF's mission is to improve the quality of life of people with pain by raising public awareness, providing practical information, promoting research, and advocating to remove barriers and to increase access to effective pain management.

About the American Academy of Pain Management

The American Academy of Pain Management (the Academy) is a nonprofit organization serving a broad range of clinicians who treat people with pain through education, information, and advocacy. Founded in 1988, the Academy has approximately 5,300 members and is the largest interdisciplinary/integrative pain organization in the United States.

About the American Society for Pain Management Nursing

ASPMN's mission is to advance and promote optimal nursing care for people affected by pain by promoting best nursing practices. This is accomplished through education, standards, advocacy, and research.