Physicians Are Providing Chronic Pain Education

Health care professionals throughoutAlberta province of Canada arelearning better ways to diagnose andtreat chronic pain in their patients.

Although chronic pain is hard todefine, surveys estimated that>300,000 Albertans have the condition,a number that is expected todouble in 20 years.

Pamela Barton, MD, cofounder ofthe Calgary Chronic Pain Centre,said physicians may not know howto treat chronic pain or may lack theresources to help.

Therefore, Dr. Barton and otherexperts are traveling across Albertato educate physicians on how toassess chronically ill patients andprovide them with treatmentoptions. The initial step of the AlbertaAmbassador program is raisingawareness among physicians andadministrators. Training is scheduledto end in the spring. Advocateshope an independent review committeewill green-light the programas a permanent training model forhealth care professionals.