Pain Management: Acute and Chronic Pain Services

Acute Pain Service

The Acute Pain Service provides acute pain management to infants, adolescents and young adults after surgery or a procedure. The team also provides acute pain management services to children who have medical conditions that require specialized pain management.

Our physicians and nurse practitioners assess the patient and their pain management needs daily in order to develop and implement a specialized pain management plan for each patient. In order to achieve this, we work closely with the healthcare teams, the patient and family.

A specific aim of the Acute Pain Service is to provide pain relief that matches the patient's needs using a variety of techniques, medicines, and non-medical therapies. 

The Acute Pain Service also serves as a teaching platform for anesthesia residents, pediatric anesthesiology fellows, and many other healthcare providers. 

Addressing and managing our patients’ pain effectively and safely is a vital part of the overall mission of the Acute Pain Service.

Chronic pain can be confusing and challenging for patients and families, and effective treatment often requires expertise from many different disciplines. The Chronic Pain Clinic provides interdisciplinary evaluation and treatment for youth with chronic pain. Our team includes physicians, psychologists, nurse practitioners, pediatric nurses, a medical assistant, physical therapists, a social worker, and administrative staff who specialize in chronic pain management for children and adolescents.

Services offered include:

1. Pain rehabilitation clinic. At our new patient clinic evaluation, the child and family will meet with an interdisciplinary team to develop a personalized treatment plan. This is an in-depth evaluation that lasts approximately 4 hours. The specific treatment plan will depend on numerous factors, such as nature and cause of pain, and previous treatments tried. For best results, we may suggest multiple types of interventions, such as mediation management, cognitive behavioral approaches, physical therapy, and lifestyle suggestions (e.g., sleep, activity). The goals are to reduce the patient’s experience of pain, allow them to return to their previous level of activity, and improve their quality of life. Recommendations are individualized. However, overall, research shows that active participation and self-management approaches work best for patients with chronic and recurrent pain. 
   
   This is the largest outpatient service provided by our team. We offer new patient evaluations twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Patients within this clinic are often referred for weekly pain psychology and physical therapy appointments, in addition to intermittent appointments with a medical provider, as part of their pain rehabilitation treatment program.
   
   
2. Medically complex clinic. There are a minority of patients seen by our clinic who would not benefit from treatment by the interdisciplinary team. These patients tend to have genetic or developmental challenges, and are seen by one of our medical providers. 
   
   
3. Transitional clinic. Some patients, particularly those who are experiencing extended post-operative pain, are seen by one of our medical providers on a short-term basis to best manage pain and wean post-operative pain medications. 

Chronic Pain Service

Chronic pain can be confusing and challenging for patients and families, and effective treatment often requires expertise from many different disciplines. The Chronic Pain Clinic provides interdisciplinary evaluation and treatment for youth with chronic pain. Our team includes physicians, psychologists, nurse practitioners, pediatric nurses, a medical assistant, physical therapists, a social worker, and administrative staff who specialize in chronic pain management for children and adolescents.

Services offered include

1. Pain rehabilitation clinic. At our new patient clinic evaluation, the child and family will meet with an interdisciplinary team to develop a personalized treatment plan. This is an in depth evaluation that lasts approximately 4 hours. The specific treatment plan will depend on numerous factors, such as nature and cause of pain, and previous treatments tried. For best results, we may suggest multiple types of interventions, such as mediation management, cognitive behavioral approaches, physical therapy, and lifestyle suggestions (e.g., sleep, activity). The goals are to reduce the patient’s experience of pain, allow them to return to their previous level of activity, and improve their quality of life. Recommendations are individualized. However, overall, research shows that active participation and self-management approaches work best for patients with chronic and recurrent pain.                    
   This is the largest outpatient service provided by our team. We offer new patient evaluations twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Patients within this clinic are often referred for weekly pain psychology and physical therapy appointments, in addition to intermittent appointments with a medical provider, as part of their pain rehabilitation treatment program.
   
2. Medically complex clinic. There are a minority of patients seen by our clinic who would not benefit from treatment by the interdisciplinary team. These patients tend to have genetic or developmental challenges, and are seen by one of our medical providers.
   
3. Transitional clinic. Some patients, particularly those who are experiencing extended post-operative pain, are seen by one of our medical providers on a short term basis to best manage pain and wean post-operative pain medications.

Chronic Pain Service Inpatient resources

1. Current patients: We understand chronic pain can be difficult to manage and can impact treatment of other medical issues. As such, our medical and pain psychology providers are available to consult on any of our patients who are admitted to the hospital in order to provide recommendations to the inpatient team and family.
   
   
2. New consults: Our medical and pain psychology providers are available to provide brief recommendations to inpatient providers on patients with chronic and recurrent pain who are not seen within our clinic. These consultations may result in referral to one of our outpatient services. However, we provide recommendations for PCPs or other specialists involved to manage any referrals or medications prior to their enrollment in our outpatient program.