Helen Dearman, editor of the newsletter, is a support group representative of the American Chronic Pain Association. She also has a unique vantage point as a chronic pain patient. My goal is to provide newsletters for medical offices where pain patients will eventually go, such as primary care physicians, pain doctors, orthopedic surgeons, pain psychologists, an so forth. Support groups are available for chronic pain patients and health care professionals interested in pain management. The Pain and Palliative Care Group meets every two months.
Membership is free and open to patients, physicians, and anyone interested in the subject.
Topics covered include record keeping, institutional approaches to pain management and palliative care, patients' point of view, and problems that chronic pain patients may face with employers. The next program is scheduled for the end of April. M. D. Anderson has an ongoing pain lecture series Mondays at noon in the Frank E. Anderson Lecture Hall. The Texas Pain Society is initiating an epidemiological study of pain in Texas. The Texas Cancer Pain Initiative can provide health care professionals with pocket-sized laminated dose conversion cards.