The University of Iowa’s Center of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPE), part of an initiative to strengthen pain research via collaborative efforts from UI’s Colleges of Nursing, Public Health, Medicine, Pharmacy, and the School of Social Work, was recently featured in the College of Public Health’s InSight magazine.
UI’s CoEPE, which is directed by Professor Keela Herr, PhD, RN, FAAN, AGSF, associate dean for faculty, is one of only 11 of these NIH Centers in the country. CoEPE project members help to translate current research findings about pain management to fill gaps in curricula development, while ensuring that clinicians in all fields can safely work with their patients and make more informed choices about pain treatment options. Learn more at https://uiowa.edu/coepe
Understanding the Complexities of Chronic Pain
By Jennifer New | InSight | Fall 2017
“I remember my mother telling me that she was always in pain but just didn’t say anything because it didn’t seem like it would do any good. Now I understand what she meant,” says Pam Weest-Carrasco, a professional musician who had rotator cuff surgery last year. Although the surgery helped her to return to performing and teaching, she still grapples with daily pain.
She’s hardly alone. An estimated 25.3 million adults in the United States experience chronic pain—pain that lasts more than three to six months—and another 40 million adults experience severe pain, according to the 2012 National Health Interview Survey. Whether a result of surgery, an accident, or illness, chronic pain is often at the root of other life-diminishing problems, such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
In addition to being physically and psychologically difficult, chronic pain is also costly. People lose wages from missed work or spend money for treatments, either because they are under-insured or are seeking therapies that are not covered. Recent estimates put the total national health care expenses and loss of productivity due to chronic pain at between $560 million and $630 million dollars a year.
Click here to read the full article as it appeared in InSight (start on p. 10)
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