Moving Beyond Medications, the Infographic

keywords:  pain management, integrative health, communicating with primary care providers, communication with biomedical providers, provider communication, non-pharm pain management, non-drug pain management, the opioid crisis, integrative health as part of the integrative pain management models of care

topics:  pain management, communication with biomedical providers, opioid crisis

I have recommended this infographic in previous blogposts on the subject of pain management and the opioid crisis.

Moving Beyond Medications is a useful one-page infographic for primary care providers looking for a quick reference point for referrals for non-pharm pain management.

"Non-Pharmacological Approaches to Pain Management and Well-Being:
 In response to the current public health crisis of opioid abuse, overdose, and death, many organizations have issued guidelines and recommendations for treating pain, including the former Surgeon General’s “Turn the Tide” campaign. Similar to other guidelines, this campaign recommends non-pharmacological approaches as first line pain treatment, with opioids to be considered only if these and non-opioid pharmacological treatments are ineffective. This document expands upon those recommendations to help primary care clinicians and their patients with this approach."

This infographic, available for free, was created through a collaboration of several national organizations:  The Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health (ACIH, the "Collaborative"), the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (the IM Consortium), the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM), and the Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC).

The Consortium Pain Task Force published a related white paper, Evidence-based Nonpharmacologic Strategies for Pain Care.  Free copies are available for download here.

Want to learn more on documenting clinical change in your patient-centered practice? 
Take our Metrics short courses.  The short courses are based on the popular metrics blogposts with downloadable pdfs, examples, and templates.

The metrics series blogposts: The Pain Scale and Medication Review:  Calculating Morphine Equivalent Dose (MEQ).

Related Blogposts

• More about research related to acupuncture and mu-opioid receptor
• The Field of Acupuncture Research in Just 10 Minutes, another video with Mel
• More about the Acupuncture in the Opioid Crisis, including resources on calculating morphine equivalent dosage (MED, MEQ), and review of systems with focus on side effects of opioid medications
• The Pain Scale, DVPRS, for your patient-centered care model
• The Opioid Epidemic, a Joint Pain Education Project video, within a blogpost filled with resources
• Research Review:  Key Studies to Understand when Discussing Pain Management with a Physician

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