The critical role of primary care physicians and clinicians in pain prevention and treatment will be apparent throughout many of the educational sessions at the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s (AAPM’s) Annual Meeting, beginning Thursday, at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, Calif. The meeting co-chairs promise top-flight education for primary care providers and their teams on the scientific innovations, language and evolving regulatory requirements of the pain field. In addition, pain specialists can expect the Annual Meeting’s customary comprehensive program to serve the needs of clinicians, researchers and scientists who specialize in pain management.

Plenary sessions address the how pain care integrates with primary care and examine the latest trends in medication management for pain. Plus, 35 scientific sessions from the top pain experts in the country will evaluate the many different aspects of pain, such as:

  • Acute and Chronic Pain – the latest techniques and protocols
  • Regional Pain – low back, spine, headache, pelvic
  • Disease based pain—cancer, autoimmune, addictions
  • Treatments – interventional, integrational, medication management, alternative
  • Comorbidities – obesity, depression, neuropathy, psychological issues
  • Government and Medical Authorities that guide pain care in America will be present from the National Institutes of Health, the American Medical Association, and Leaders from the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

“I increasingly view this as the one go-to meeting for pain specialists, primary care physicians, and for non-physician healthcare providers,” said incoming President Daniel B. Carr, MD, a co-chair of the meeting for two years running. Dr. Carr, who is Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine and the Program Director of Pain, Research, Education & Policy at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Mass. He said AAPM attracts the highest levels of knowledge and innovation in the pain field from private practice to academia, and covers topics from molecules to social issues to reimbursement policy.

“It’s a big tent with doors wide open to capture the reality of clinical practice,” said meeting co-chair David J. Tauben, MD, FACP, Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash.