Inside St Vincent’sHealth insights from inside one of Australia’s leading
hospitals
Professor Milton Cohen, Senior Specialist in Pain Medicine and Rheumatology at St Vincent’s Hospital.Professor Richard Day AM, Director of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at St Vincent’s Hospital.Associate Professor Steven Faux, Director of Rehabilitation Medicine and Pain Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital. Jane Worthington, Journalist and Health Reporter.
“To have pain is to have certainty; to hear about pain is to
have doubt.” Elaine Scarry, 1985
“Johnny, are you in pain?”“No, Mummy. The pain is in
me.”The Advertiser, 1927
Quoted in The Lancet , 30 June 2012
“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” Kahlil Gibran
Chronic Pain is a Public Health Issue in
Australia• Prevalence• Related disability 25%• Affected
• By 2020
• Cost
• 3.2 million• 0.8 million• 6.4 million
• 5 million
• $34B
Source Access Economics/MBF Foundation, 2007
PAIN
An unpleasant
sensory and emotional
experience
associated with
actual or potential tissue damage
or described in terms of such damage
“Types” of Pain
• “Acute” pain– usually short duration– usually associated with “tissue damage”
• “Cancer” pain– associated with the disease itself
• “Chronic” or “persistent” non-cancer pain– includes pain after cancer treatment
BRAIN AND
NERVOUSSYSTEM
ENVIRONMENT
PERSON
BODY
BRAIN AND
NERVOUSSYSTEM
ENVIRONMENT
PERSON
BODY
What’s happening to your body
What’s happening to you as a person
What’s happening in your world
Inside St Vincent’sHealth insights from inside one of Australia’s leading
hospitals
Professor Milton Cohen, Senior Specialist in Pain Medicine and Rheumatology at St Vincent’s Hospital.Professor Richard Day AM, Director of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at St Vincent’s Hospital.Associate Professor Steven Faux, Director of Rehabilitation Medicine and Pain Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital. Jane Worthington, Journalist and Health Reporter.