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MGH Pain Links
What You Need to Know about Pain:
A Guide for Patients and Families
Using a question and answer format, this guide looks at the most common questions
and concerns that people have about pain and its treatment. The guide emphasizes
that most pain can be treated and that patients need to keep their nurses
and doctors informed about progress in treating the pain. The Guide is also
available in booklet format on many patient care units.
Helping
Your Child Cope with Pain
This is a guide for parents provided by MassGeneral Hospital for Children.
It explains the nature of pain and how children communicate and respond to
pain at various developmental ages. It also describes common treatments for
pain and suggests ways that parents can help their children understand and
cope with experiences that cause pain. A booklet form of this resource is
available on the pediatric units.
MGH
Palliative Care Service
The MGH Palliative Care Service is a team of professionals that provides care
and support to patients and families facing a serious or life-threatening
illness. The service provides care in the hospital and in the patient's home.
An important part of the care provided is treatment of pain and other symptoms.
MGH Pain Center
The Pain Center is made up of several services and clinics that care for people
with acute and chronic pain and cancer-related pain. Patients are seen both
in the hospital and in outpatient clinics. The physicians and nurses in the
Pain Center are skilled in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of pain. Many
interventions are available, from standard oral medications, to high-tech
procedures, to acupuncture.
The
Center for Shingles and Postherpetic Neuralgia
Most people have had chicken pox as children. The virus that causes chicken
pox, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), stays in the body after the illness has
passed and the blisters have healed. A decline in immune system function,
brought on by aging or illness (e.g., HIV, cancer treatment), leads to reactivation
of VZV. The reactivation results in a painful rash with blisters that affects
a well-defined region of the body, a condition commonly termed shingles. Unless
shingles is treated promptly with anti-viral drugs, there is a significant
risk of moderate to severe pain or itching that persist long after the blisters
heal. The Center for Shingles and Postherpetic Neuralgia at Massachusetts
General Hospital specializes in research and treatment of people with shingles
and the persistent pain of postherpetic neuralgia.
The Patient and Family
Learning Center
The Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center helps patients
and families learn about health and illness. Volunteers, nurses, and a health
librarian are on-hand to help visitor to the center find easy-to-read pamphlets,
magazines, audio tapes, videos, CD-ROMs, web sites and both medical and consumer
health books.
Pain Resources on the Web
The American Pain Foundation
is an information and advocacy group for people with any kind of pain. The
site contains links to information on many types of pain. It also contains
the "Pain Care
Bill of Rights" (similar to MGH's Pledge
to Patients) in English, Spanish, and Chinese. APF also has other publications, including a monthly e-mail newsletter.
Cancer-Pain.org
A majority of cancer patients experience pain and are generally less satisfied
with their pain treatment than doctors think they are. Although adequate relief
can be achieved with available therapies, studies show that cancer pain remains
underreported and under treated, due to misconceptions and lack of information.
This site offers in-depth information to assist in pain management decision-making
and interactive discussion groups to help patients determine what will work
for them.
The National Pain Foundation
The National Pain Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides online education and support resources for people in pain, their families, and health care providers. Their web site provides information about several types of painful conditions and pain treatments. News, interviews, and articles are posted frequently, and all medical information is peer reviewed. Online discussion groups are a feature of this site.
NCCN
Cancer Pain Treatment Guidelines for Patients
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American Cancer Society developed this patient version of the same guidelines that are used by
the prestigious cancer centers that are members of the NCCN. The guidelines
are also available in booklet form from the American Cancer Society. The Guidelines are also available in Spanish: El dolor asociado con el cáncer
Guías de tratamiento para los pacientes.
Pediatric Pain
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, provides this very good site. It contains educational materials for parents and children as well as professionals. The e-mail discussion board ("Listserv") is an excellent networking resource. Subscriptions to the Pediatric Pain Letter, a quarterly e-mail newsletter, are also available.
American Cancer
Society
The American Cancer Society has a comprehensive web site for people with cancer
and their loved ones. The pain-related resources on the site include:
National
Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute, a part of the National institutes of Health,
is the U.S. Government's most important organization for researching cancer
and educating consumers about cancer. Publications and videotapes ordered
by individuals are free:
The Resource Center for the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives
The Alliance of State Pain initiatives (formerly American Alliance of Cancer Pain Initiatives) produces eduational materials for professionals and patients.
This page last updated 1 April 2007