Representing APMA at the 42nd Annual Scientific Meeting
In April I attended the 42nd Annual Scientific Meeting in beautiful Hobart, hosted by the Australian Pain Society. A huge thank you to Luke Bongiorno, Director of the NOI Group, for sponsoring my attendance.
For those of you not familiar with the conference, it brings together pain specialists, allied health professionals, nursing, general practitioners, pharmacology with researchers, and deep dives into studies and practices in these respective fields. International keynote speakers, Clinicians and Phd students and researchers present information in plenary sessions or topical breakout sessions.
I thought I would share with our community some key highlights and takeaways.
Professor Beverly Thorn presented decades worth of findings and outcomes regarding Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and managing chronic pain. What I really liked about Professor Thorn was how respectful her body of work is. Thorn's team reflected on the patients they were treating, the gains they were making, the barriers to attendance, and adapted their services to improve health outcomes. A major change was improving the accessibility of their resources, adapting the content to remove medical jargon and changing the literacy level. You can hear more from Prof Thorn here: Are you living with chronic pain? - Sundays - ABC Radio
Professor Iain McGregor and Associate Professor Mick Vagg had a lively debate about whether medicinal cannabis is the next opioid crisis waiting to happen. It was good to hear from both sides. My takeaway was that medicinal cannabis is not just one treatment, it could be a topical cream, an oil or a tablet. It's hard to compare apples with oranges. You can hear more about the studies into medicinal cannabis here Prof. Iain McGregor – Making Sense Of Medicinal Marijuana – Scar Tissue Podcast | With Fabian Di Marco or read about Ass Prof Vagg's position here: Medicinal cannabis to manage chronic pain? We don't have evidence it works (theconversation.com).
I was pleased to see the number of upcoming researchers and students going into ‘pain’. It gives me hope that more treatments will be developed and more pain specialists will be in the field. I attended a number of topical sessions on self-management strategies, multidisciplinary assessments and pain education.
There was much discussion about pain catastrophizing, medical skepticism and patients meeting the expectations of their specialists. Many clinicians presented findings about their programs that had achieved success and others about the challenges in researching or treating persistent pain. I found some of these discussions left me feeling uncomfortable. With my ‘consumer advocate’ hat firmly in place, I wanted to hear of more studies that were centred around the truth as it applies to the patient. Research that honoured co-design with consumers. A movement towards a system that rises to the needs of the help seeker, not leaving the patient to deal with barriers on their own. I know that technology goes a way in helping overcome this. But more please.
Here is what I know to be true. People are complex, intricate and deep - and those with chronic health conditions and persistent pain tell us that addressing their healthcare needs is hard and expensive. When an individual goes to their GP, travels 4 hours to their closest public hospital pain clinic or to the physio down the road, there tends to be more at play than just what is written in their chart. With short appointment times and stretched resources, it is hard for the health professional to address all that is happening for the individual, too. In the last few weeks our community has shared with us so many facets to their health management journey. Making financial decisions between petrol to get to work or groceries, childhood trauma, concerns about drug seeking labels, mental health issues, carer responsibilities, GPs retiring, issues from past negative healthcare experiences, stereotypes, learning difficulties, waitlists. All of these factors have a massive impact on managing health. There is generally more at play for the individual and that appointment they’re attending. Some of these things are institutional and generational. The flaws in the system are complex and multi-level. There is bias. We all have a ways to go in getting this right.
My hope is that clinicians have an empathic curiosity. To practice expressing curiosity about the thoughts and feelings of their patients and why they hold certain beliefs. Using the words "tell me more." Often hospitals and practices leave patients feeling like they are just another number. It's amazing what can be achieved when we feel like others care and are curious about our lives.
You can read more about the conference here https://www.dcconferences.com.au/aps2022/
This post has been shared with consent. The views reflected in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of APMA. This space has been provided to give our community a voice, without bias.
APMA does not offer medical advice through the blog entries. Please speak to your healthcare professional for any information surrounding a condition and/or medication