This study investigated the value of the sense of coherence (SOC), self-esteem, and the Mental Health Inventory subscales as predictors of response to a brief pain management program. One hundred and seven chronic pain patients who participated in a pain management program, which included education about pain, relaxation training, and stress management, were sent a follow-up questionnaire 6 mon...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Accreditation is usually a voluntary program in which trained external peer reviewers evaluate a healthcare organization's compliance and compare it with pre-established performance standards. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of accreditation programs on the quality of healthcare services METHODS We did a systematic review of the literature to evaluate...

Corresponding Author: Sridhar V. Vasudevan, MD, W180N8085 Town Hall Rd, Menomonee Falls, WI 53051-3518; phone/fax 262.285.3638; e-mail [email protected]. Challenges of Managing Individuals With Chronic Pain Acute pain that accompanies an injury, illness, or surgical procedure usually resolves with appropriate treatment—or without treatment— in 6 to 8 weeks. Chronic pain, however, general...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of two Arthritis Foundation programs: Walk With Ease (WWE) and YOU Can Break The Pain Cycle (PC). DESIGN Quasi-experimental, repeated measures design. Retested at six weeks and four months. SETTING Community based intervention. PARTICIPANTS Volunteer sample of 163 adults with arthritis recruited through mailings, newspapers, and flyers. INTERVENTI...

Preventing diversion and abuse of prescription controlled substances while ensuring their availability for legitimate medical use is an important public health goal in the United States. In one approach to preventing and identifying drug diversion, 17 states have implemented prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) to monitor the prescribing of certain controlled substances. While PMPs are not i...

Background: Pain has physiological and psychological effects on a child's life and various body systems. Tactile stimulation affects the central nervous system and releases analgesic drugs resulting in the inhibition of pain. Aim: The main purpose of this study was effect of touch on the intensity and duration of pain during venipuncture in school-age children. Methods: This clinical trial was ...

Effective perioperative pain management techniques and accelerated rehabilitation programs can improve health-related quality of life and functional status of patients after total hip arthroplasty. Traditionally, postoperative analgesia following arthroplasty was provided by intravenous patient-controlled analgesia or epidural analgesia. Recently, peripheral nerve blockade has emerged alternati...

OBJECTIVE Some reports suggest that education programs help arthritis patients better manage their symptoms and improve function. This review of the published literature was undertaken to assess the effect of such programs on pain and disability. METHODS Medline and HealthSTAR were searched for the period 1964-1998. The references of each article were then hand-searched for further publicatio...