title: Pain clinics: role in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic pain.
abstract: The pain clinic, a concept introduced after World War II, is an interdisciplinary, comprehensive approach to the management of patients with chronic pain. The primary goal of the pain clinic is to help patients achieve the highest functional capacity possible within their medical and psychosocial limits by reducing narcotic medication, attempting to reduce pain, increasing activity level, and modifying pain-reinforcing behaviour. A full-time professional staff committed to pain control is needed to screen, process, evaluate, and treat patients, as well as to teach and conduct research. Traditional and new techniques of pain management combining medical and psychosocial components are necessary to achieve maximal results. Although the paucity of objective criteria assessing the long-term outcome of treatment in the interdisciplinary pain clinic difficult, results suggest improvement over the short to medium term as well as its cost effectiveness.
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D059408:Pain Management; D010348:Patient Care Team; D012017:Referral and Consultation