Journal article
How Can We Make the Pain Go Away? Public Policies to Manage Pain at the End of Life
The Gerontologist, Vol.48(4), pp.423-431
08/2008
DOI: 10.1093/geront/48.4.423
PMCID: PMC3093653
PMID: 18728292
Abstract
The continued undertreatment of pain at the end of life is a substantive public health problem that has not been resolved through increased public awareness, the issuance of clinical guidance for providers, or expanded organizational commitments. In this forum, we illuminate the role of public policies in promoting pain management. We review federal and state policies and consider empirical evaluations that compared the quality of state policies and the factors that contributed to their formation. We resolve that any organized interest in improving end-of-life care should begin by focusing on the development and expansion of those state policies that support the provision of evidence-based medicine for reducing the amount of pain an individual experiences at the end of life. Although empirical research is needed to determine which particular aspects of state pain policy are most critical and how these policies can be implemented most effectively, any organized effort that advances state medical board activity or another state policy would appear to be making an important step toward making the pain at the end of life go away.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- How Can We Make the Pain Go Away? Public Policies to Manage Pain at the End of Life
- Creators
- Sara Imhof - Address correspondence to Sara Imhof, PhD, E-206 General Hospital, Iowa City, IA 52241. E-mail: saraimhof@gmail.comBrian Kaskie
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Gerontologist, Vol.48(4), pp.423-431
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- DOI
- 10.1093/geront/48.4.423
- PMID
- 18728292
- PMCID
- PMC3093653
- ISSN
- 0016-9013
- eISSN
- 1758-5341
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/2008
- Academic Unit
- Health Management and Policy
- Record Identifier
- 9984214667502771
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