Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 14, Number 5, 2004
President’s Message
The Decade of Pain Control Research—Connecting the Pieces of the Puzzle
Dennis C. Turk, PhD
I was invited to provide a status report at the recent meeting of Partners for Understanding Pain held in Washington, DC, kicking off Pain Awareness Month. The invitation, an honor, served as an opportunity for me to reflect on what has been accomplished so far during the Decade and to review what I believe remains to be achieved. Remember, someday we, as pain professionals, will be able to look back and judge the success of our efforts. In short, establishing a Decade of Pain Control and Research presented our society with an unprecedented opportunity. How well have we, the pain community and not only APS, responded?
I used a puzzle metaphor in my lecture at the Partners for Understanding Pain meeting. I spoke of the “puzzle” of adequate pain control. In 1973 Ron Melzack published his landmark volume, The Puzzle of Pain (updated in 1983 with Patrick Wall as co-author and the revised title The Challenge of Pain). The volumes emphasize the experience of pain, but the puzzle and challenge is much broader—at a broad level the puzzle has four large pieces (a) public awareness, (b) professional awareness, (c) public policy, and (d) research. Each is essential to pain management—large pieces of a “puzzle” made up of a number of constituent elements. The success of the Decade will be judged on how well we, as pain professionals, integrate each of these parts to achieve the ultimate goal—improvements in pain management and the health-related quality of life of the millions of pain sufferers worldwide.
APS created a task force on the Decade, chaired by past-President, Richard Payne, that was tasked to set an agenda including the following key points:
- public awareness— to increase public awareness of pain, including the need to treat people with pain and the need to increase public resources dedicated to the understanding and treatment of pain
- professional awareness—to raise professional awareness of appropriate management of patients with pain
- public policy—to change federal policy to improve support for research related to pain and to improve pain management across the life span and for all groups in society
- research—to enhance clinical and basic research on pain and its management and increase funding for these efforts.
My assessment of our accomplishments to date and future needs in each of these areas is contained in the accompanying article, “Progress and Directions for the Agenda for Pain Management.”
At this juncture in the Decade of Pain Control and Research we, as pain professionals, may feel a sense of pride as to what has been accomplished. We should also feel humbled by the continuing need to solve the puzzle of pain, to meet the challenge of pain, and ultimately to achieve appropriate pain management for all during the remainder of the Decade and beyond. I am optimistic about what remains ahead and what may be achieved when we work together to piece together the parts of the puzzle. I look forward to joining you in the task of confronting these challenges, and as always I welcome your comments.
References
Melzack, R. (1973). The puzzle of pain. New York: Basic Books.Melzack, R., & Wall, P.D. (1982). The challenge of pain. New York: Basic Books.
Dennis C. Turk, PhD, is the John and Emma Bonica Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, e-mail turkdc@u.washington.edu