In the Face of Pain

Download the “Protecting Access” Fact Sheet

These action tools can help you get started with your pain advocacy efforts right away:

At Purdue Pharma L.P., we are working with health care professionals, law enforcement, and local communities across the country to help curb diversion and abuse of medications, while making sure these medicines remain available for appropriate medical use. We have developed an array of programs focused on education, prevention, and deterrence. We have developed RxSafetyMatters.org to help health care professionals, families and communities, and law enforcement officials learn about and utilize these resources to help reduce the abuse and diversion of prescription medications.

As a part of these efforts, Purdue has also partnered with the National Community Pharmacists Association to develop the Safeguard My Meds program to increase awareness and understanding surrounding pain medication safety. The site includes a “Personal Responsibility Pledge” and provides links to forward this pledge to family and friends through Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail.

Purdue’s medical education department also offers prescription drug abuse prevention materials. Health care professionals can access these tools by visiting the Medical Education Resource Catalog Online.

Information about medication adherence, safety and disposal can also be found in the “Resource Guide for People with Pain,” available for download here.

The National Consumers League (NCL), with planning funds from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is organizing a groundbreaking, national multi-media campaign to improve public health by raising consumer awareness of the importance of good medication adherence. The campaign involves a broad cross-section of public and private stakeholders. Click here for more information and ways to get involved.

Partnership at Drug-Free.Org (formerly Partnership for a Drug-Free America) offers a number of public service campaigns, programs and materials targeted toward addressing prescription drug abuse. Click here for more information.

The Partnership also offers the “Parent’s Toll-Free Helpline,” a nationwide support service that offers assistance to parents and other primary caregivers of children who want to talk to someone about their child’s drug use and drinking. The Helpline is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm ET and can be reached at (855)-DRUGFREE (1-855-378-4373).

Also in 2010, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) launched medication take-back days where people can bring expired or unused medication for safe disposal. These present natural news opportunities to reinforce key messages about ensuring that medication is taken only by the intended recipient. To find upcoming dates and locations, visit www.dea.gov.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published the handout “A Guide to Safe Use of Prescription Pain Medication” in February 2009. The FDA also posts information on safe medication disposal.

The Pain & Policy Studies Group provides a number of resources that can assist with advocacy surrounding balance in pain policy, including state policy report cards. More information can be found at: www.painpolicy.wisc.edu.

The National Association of State Controlled Substances Authorities provides state profiles and contact information for each state’s controlled substances regulation.

The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) has developed the “Rx Abuse Toolkit: From Awareness to Action.” This toolkit provides facts, approaches, strategies and messages that coalitions can use to move communities beyond that first stage of awareness into action.

In November 2009, the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) launched the toolkit “Maximizing Your Role as a Teen Influencer: What You Can Do to Help Prevent Prescription Drug Abuse.” The online resource offers a workshop module that includes a PowerPoint and presenter’s guide. For more information about this and other NCPIE programs visit www.talkaboutrx.org.

For health care professionals, the American College of Preventive Medicine has developed a series of educational modules, or “time tools,” called “Use, Abuse, Misuse, and Disposal of Prescription Pain Medication.”

The Federation of State Medical Boards updated the Model Policy for the Use of Controlled Substances for the Treatment of Pain in 2004. This policy was developed in collaboration with pain experts around the country to provide guidance to state medical boards in developing pain policies and regulations. Written in the form of a model policy document, the guidelines provide model language that may be used by states to clarify their positions regarding the use of controlled substances to treat pain, alleviate physician uncertainty about such practice and encourage better pain management. In 2004, the FSMB’s House of Delegates adopted recommendations and revised the pain policy to reflect new medical insights in pain treatment, particularly with regard to the undertreatment of pain. More information, including a listing of which states have adopted this policy, can be found at: www.fsmb.org.

Human Rights Watch has conducted extensive research about protecting access to pain and palliative care as a human right around the world. Click here to find their reports.

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Download the “Cost of Pain” Fact Sheet

These action tools can help you get started with your pain advocacy efforts right away:

The American Chronic Pain Association’s September 2011 newsletter was dedicated to the cost of pain. The issue can be accessed here.

The American Academy of Pain Medicine dedicates a portion of their website called “The Cost of Pain to Business and Society Due to Ineffective Pain Care” that can be used for advocacy efforts. Click here for more information.

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Download the “Ethics & Pain” Fact Sheet

These action tools can help you get started with your pain advocacy efforts right away:

In 2011, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report “Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research.” Highlights from this report can be used to help educate policymakers, media and communities about pain as a human right.

The Open Society Foundation has sponsored a campaign called “Stop Torture in Healthcare” that addresses denial of pain care around the world, and the establishment of pain care as a human right. The website includes case histories and ways to take action. Click here for more information.

The Global Access to Pain Relief Initiative (GAPRI) launched the campaign “Treat the Pain,” an initiative to raise awareness and provide opportunities to engage in improving access to pain care on a global level. Treat the Pain is a campaign administered by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to advocate for high-quality pain treatment for all who need it throughout the world, and to connect those who would like to join the fight with meaningful actions. The Campaign will use the resources and voices of its members to promote and advocate for universal access to adequate pain relief. Click here for more information.

In September 2010, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) galvanized global pain care leaders to demand acknowledgement of pain care as a human right during the 13th World Congress on Pain in Montreal. The “Declaration of Montreal,” was created to call attention to inadequate knowledge of pain management techniques by most medical workers and the lack of national policies in both the developed and developing world regarding the seriousness of pain as a global health problem. Visit the IASP’s website where you can sign and encourage others to sign the “Declaration that Access to Pain Management Is a Fundamental Human Right.”

Additionally, IASP includes Ethical Standards in Pain Management and Research that are available here on the IASP website.

With support from the Open Society Institute International Palliative Care Initiative, Human Rights Watch released a groundbreaking report on the lack of access to pain relief medicines for millions of patients worldwide.

The report, “Please Don’t Make Us Suffer Anymore:” Access to Pain Treatment as a Human Right, finds that countries can significantly improve access to pain medications by addressing the causes of their poor availability, which include the following:

• failure to put in place functioning supply and distribution systems
• absence of government policies to ensure medicine availability
• insufficient instruction for health care workers
• excessively strict drug-control regulations
• fear of legal sanctions among health care workers

The International Palliative Care Initiative aims to increase public awareness about end-of-life care issues, provide palliative care education to health care professionals, integrate palliative care into health care policies and more.

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Download the “Caregivers & Pain” Fact Sheet

These action tools can help you get started with your pain advocacy efforts right away:

The National Family Caregiver Association Caregiver Community Action Network (CCAN) provides state and local information and support from volunteers across the country. This can be a good local resource to find information about pain management. CCAN is also looking for volunteers to help serve as a local resource. For more information, click here.

The American Geriatric Society’s Foundation for Health and Aging offers the resource “Eldercare at Home: A Comprehensive Online Guide for Family Caregivers” (2004) on their website. This guide has a chapter on pain that includes language that can be used when advocating on behalf of someone with pain. Click here for more information.

The Family Caregiver Alliance provides a number of sourced and cited Fact Sheets about caregiving and advocacy, which can be found here.

The Center for Practical Bioethics has developed a consumer education initiative called “Caring Conversations” that helps individuals and their families share meaningful conversation while making practical preparations for end-of-life decisions. Each copy of Caring Conversations includes a health care directive document and a durable power of attorney for health care decisions. Click here for more information.

The International Association for the Study of Pain developed a tip sheet, “Partners and Caregivers of Cancer Patients Having Pain,” available for download here.

The Mayday Pain Project features resources for caregivers that cover medical, legal, financial, wellness, social issues and many other topics. More information is available here.

The Gerontological Society of America has published “An Interdisciplinary Look at Advancing Pain Care, Education, and Research — Responding to the IOM’s Call to Action to Improve Pain Management.” This special publication aims to inform health care providers, researchers, policy makers, caregivers, and patients about the recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that calls for overhauling the approach to pain management in the United States. More information can be found here.

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