April 7, 2020, CHICAGO – The official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), Pain Medicine, has published a practice guidelines article titled “Pain Management Best Practices from Multispecialty Organizations during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Public Health Crises” to assist pain medicine providers, health care leaders, and regulatory bodies as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
Ensuring that persons experiencing pain have continued access to pain management services throughout this global pandemic is crucial. The Pain Medicine guidelines, which are supported by the medical societies and organizations listed below, addresses how pain medicine specialists can continue to offer vital pain care while also implementing strategies designed to keep themselves, their clinical staff members, and their patients safe.
“The need for providers and patients to responsibly address the COVID crisis must be balanced with the public health benefits inherent in the treatment of pain, as well as with the welfare of healthcare providers. Walking this ‘fine balance’ is critically important for pain specialists right now,” says AAPM President, Ajay Wasan, MD MSc, who co-authored the guidelines. “The purpose of this article is to offer guidance to help pain providers mitigate procedure risks, establish plans that protect clinicians and patients, implement telemedicine options, and triage procedures and clinical visits during the COVID-19 outbreak appropriately.”
Given the urgent need for this information to be publicly available as quickly as possible, the Pain Medicine guidelines article has been published and is freely accessible as an Accepted Manuscript. The Accepted Manuscript is the final draft author manuscript, as accepted for publication by the journal, including modifications based on referees’ suggestions but before it has undergone copyediting, typesetting, or proof correction. Within a few weeks, the Accepted Manuscript will be replaced by a corrected proof, known as the Version of Record. Neither the Accepted Manuscript nor the Version of Record may be hosted by any organization or journal other than Pain Medicine, but anyone is welcome to link to the guideline.
AAPM member and Director-at-Large Steven P. Cohen, MD spearheaded efforts to create this guideline and is its lead author. Dr. Cohen worked with representatives from the following associations to gather input and support for recommendations included in the article:
- American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM)
- American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPMR)
- American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)
- American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA)
- North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS)
- Spine Intervention Society (SIS)
- United States Military
- Veteran Health Administration
- World Institute of Pain (WIP)
About AAPM
The American Academy of Pain Medicine is the premier medical association for pain physicians and their treatment teams with some 2,000 members. Now in its 37th year of service, the Academy’s mission is to advance and promote the full spectrum of multidisciplinary pain care, education, advocacy, and research to improve function and quality of life for people in pain. Information is available on the Academy’s website at painmed.org.