Nicholson: Local Facility Model for VA and Rest of Nation
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson today praised the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) acclaimed Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital as a shining example of VA’s world-class health care.
“The program at the Tampa VA Medical Center is the largest and most comprehensive pain center in the VA system,” Nicholson said. “We’re meeting the challenges of treating wounded servicemembers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, while providing top-notch care to older veterans with chronic medical problems.”
Nicholson noted the Tampa pain program was one of six facilities – and the only VA facility — earlier this year to receive the American Pain Society’s first “Clinical Centers of Excellence in Pain Management Awards,” honoring the nation’s outstanding pain care centers.
The Society recognized programs that help pain patients enhance overall functionality and quality of life through integrated care across medical disciplines. Patients in the VA pain program have, on average, a 50 percent reduction in pain during treatment. More than half of polytrauma patients leave the facility free of prescribed pain medications, while others have substantially reduced dosages.
The Tampa VA Medical Center hosts one of VA’s major polytrauma centers that receive the most severely wounded veterans of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pain management for these patients is particularly challenging because many have cognitive impairment and multiple complex injuries. Patients often arrive on high doses of narcotics, which can interfere with their rehabilitation.
In its recognizing the Tampa center, the American Pain Society highlighted programs that reach beyond drugs to other approaches such as cognitive behavioral and physical therapy to treat the whole person, not just the pain. According to the Society, the Tampa facility had demonstrated that integrated, multidisciplinary pain care yields the best medical, psychological and social outcomes.
The Tampa pain center’s core team includes doctors and nurses from a variety of disciplines, pain psychologists, a registered dietician, rehabilitation therapists and a social worker, with occasional assistance from a chiropractor, acupuncturist and pharmacist.
During 17 years, Tampa’s Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program has developed national models for managing chronic pain. The facility has devised a pain assessment questionnaire that is used by more than 800 clinicians and researchers in 36 countries.
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