Grand Round Summary

Summarize the information presented at the Grand Round. Dr. Turner is an internal medicine physician and professor of medicine at UT Health Science Center in San Antonio. Dr. Turner is the founder of “The Center for Research to Advance Community Health (ReACH), in which she stated that her focus is to promote health for individuals through research. She began the grand round with statistics about the “drug problem” that is going on in the United States. She expressed that the miss use of pain medicine due to chronic pain is a big role in why there is such a problem. She described chronic pain as lasting at least 3 months, disrupting daily activities, inconsistent and very common. There is a long history of opioids in the United States; as

The ORT is and agreement between primary physician and patient in which emphasizes that drugs along are not adequate for chronic pain management as well as a need to adhere to the agreed upon integrative management set with the physician. The National Pain Strategy is a care process that Dr. Turner believes physicians should follow when treating chronic pain. First, do not start with opioids; DO start with evidence-based non-pharmacologic approaches. Then, consider non-opioid pain medication, but remembering that these too can have risks. Lastly, provide ongoing support needed to live better despite chronic

When Dr. Turner talked about physicians giving pain medicine as “cure all” I was concerned about how much physicians are really paying attention to patients and if they are even taking serious the pain that they are having. I feel as though the problem with drugs begins with physicians and the lack of education on alternative ways to treat pain. When observing during fieldwork, patients would receive pain medication either before or after their therapy sessions. While listening to Dr. Turner I couldn’t help but think if doing what I saw in fieldwork is appropriate. Why aren’t therapist, nurses, or physicians trying alternative ways to treat their pain? They automatically go to using medication. Is giving the pain medication before or after session without providing alternative ways ethical? Another area I found concerning is that she never really talked about how OT can be a part of providing and teaching individuals. In her presentation I could not believe she did not address OT; because she stated, “chronic pain can be improved by things you do in your daily life” I feel that OT has specific skills that address the daily life aspect of these patients