It's tough to talk about pain

A nationwide survey found that a sizable gap exists between patients and healthcare professionals when it comes to understanding and discussing pain.

To address this discrepancy, a new coalition of leading pain management organizations has formed to improve how patients and healthcare professionals communicate with each other.

The Let's Talk Pain Coalition is the first of its kind to unite the perspectives of patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals to encourage people to talk more about pain.

The organizations behind Let's Talk Pain have created a new website, www.letstalkpain.org, to provide visitors with comprehensive information and tools to help enhance the dialogue between those affected by pain and healthcare professionals.

Here are a few of the tips the coalition suggests for improving the pain dialogue:

For patients

•Don't be afraid to speak up. Only the individual knows the extent of his/her pain.

•Download a pain journal to record the frequency and intensity of the pain.

•Take note of how well the treatment plan is working and what makes the pain worse or better.

•Bring a relative or friend to appointments for support and to help take notes and remember what was said.

•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.

Leading pain expert Dr. Scott Fishman, chair and president of the American Pain Foundation and chief of the Division of Pain Medicine and professor of anesthesiology at UC Davis, offers communication tips for healthcare professionals.

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.

This article provided by North American Precis Syndicate Inc.