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Brainman returns: Press Release from Hunter Integrated Pain Service
To coincide with opening of the 15th World Congress on Pain in Buenos Aries, Argentina, a world leader in pain education is making a return to the online stage.
Brainman, the “brainchild” of the team at Hunter Integrated Pain Service at John Hunter Hospital and Hunter Medicare Local, has become a YouTube celebrity since making his debut in late 2011. Since that time Brainman’s first film “Understanding pain and what to do about it in less than five minutes” has had almost 500 000 views and been translated into nine different languages.
Now the University of Washington and The University of South Australia have joined the team to collaborate in producing two new and updated videos.
In releasing the new videos John Baillie CEO of Hunter Medicare Local said “Despite the success of Brainman’s first video, the consistent feedback we had from clinicians was “make it shorter”. These two new updated videos are less than 2 ½ minutes in duration. The first “Brainman stops his opioids” holds the succinct message that opioids are no longer recommended for chronic non-cancer pain. The second video shows the choices Brainman makes as he transitions toward an active evidence based approach”.
Dr Chris Hayes, Director of Hunter Integrated Pain Service at John Hunter Hospital speaking on behalf of the whole team said “We all accept medicine advances as knowledge grows. In treating chronic non cancer pain, there’s been too much focus on opioid medication & not enough on the most effective ways to improve pain & wellbeing.
“Knowledge changes. We now know that when it comes to chronic pain, use of these drugs often makes matters worse. Opioids are no longer recommended for chronic non-cancer pain. Instead, the evidence recommends people get support, they get an active recovery plan and get started”.
Deb Gordon RN, from the University of Washington said “These videos represent a change in direction. Chronic pain can change, it’s not always an enduring disease or problem. The first thing still remains to get assessed and rule out anything dangerous then it’s time to “shift focus”, get informed and manage pain from a broad, active perspective.
“Everyone can benefit from making the mindbody link. Drawing a timeline helps make sense of the emotional impact of life events before, during and after the onset of pain. Addressing underlying depression or anxiety early is critical to reducing pain over time.”
Professor Lorimer Moseley from University of South Australia says “This is not just new age thinking.
These discoveries have shifted the world’s understanding of how best to treat pain. Decreasing pain starts with knowing about pain and choosing to work on sustainable strategies”.
You can view the new videos at Brainman’s very own YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/hunterbrainman
Pain in the News: “Common Back and Leg Pain Treatment May Not Help Much, Study Says”
Spotted in The New York Times: July 2, 2014
“A widely used method of treating a common cause of back and leg pain — steroid injections for spinal stenosis — may provide little benefit for many patients, according to a new study that experts said should make doctors and patients think twice about the treatment”….. read more
THE RESEARCH A Randomized Trial of Epidural Glucocorticoid Injections for Spinal Stenosis N Engl J Med 2014; 371:11-21
Mini Blog: 2 minutes with…Frances James
Spend a couple of minutes getting to know our new President-Elect, Dr Fran James…
1. What is your current role/job/position?
I have three roles at the moment:
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Chronic Pain Service, Counties Manukau Health (0.6)
Clinical Leader, Chronic Pain Service, Counties Manukau Health (0.2)
Clinical Leader, Well Managed Pain Collaborative, Beyond 20,000 Days Campaign, Counties Manukau Health (0.1)- this is a quality improvement project and we are providing multidisciplinary input for inpatients with severe or complex pain.
2. How did you get into working in Pain Management?
I did my Masters thesis on using self hypnosis for the management of chronic pain with Bob Large at the Auckland Hospital Pain Clinic. The team were incredibly supportive and I found the work fascinating so I went on to do my PhD on pain with Bob as well.
3. If you weren’t working in Pain Management what would you be doing?
My clinical work has always been within health. I enjoyed working in the National Burn Centre. I love working with people and there are lots of areas that tempt me.
4. If you could invite any 3 people to have dinner, who would you choose and why?
I have long been intrigued by Emmeline Pankhurst because family rumour says my great aunt joined her protests and was ‘fetched’ home from London. I would also love to invite Dame Whina Cooper and Rosa Parks. They all changed the world and inspired people to challenge their thinking.
5. What is the most important advance you hope will be made in Pain in the next ten years?
I hope that the general population understanding of health will expand from disease and injury concepts to include a general acknowledgement that the brain isn’t taken out of the body and put in a box beside the bed when we are injured and that recovery is always about the whole person.
Mini Blog: 2 minutes with…Aislinn Carr
We head to the other end of the country for our next ‘mini-blog’ to meet new NZPS Council member Aislinn (Ash) Carr…
1. What is your current role/job/position?
I work full time as the Clinical Nurse Specialist, with the chronic pain service at CMDHB in South Auckland.
2. How did you get into working in Pain Management?
I worked in burns for over 10 years, so always had a strong interest in the management of pain. When CMDHB announced that it was establishing a multi-disciplinary pain service, I took the opportunity to branch out, learn new skills and nearly 4 years on I have never looked back. I am still learning and still loving the challenge.
3. If you weren’t working in Pain Management what would you be doing?
Living in Italy, cooking in a small restaurant, maybe growing grapes.
4. If you could invite any 3 people to have dinner, who would you choose and why?
Three people that I would choose for dinner, Elton John- fabulous music, Hilary Clinton- the stories she could tell and from my childhood, Christy Moore- Irish folk singer
5. What is the most important advance you hope will be made in Pain in the next ten years?
Better pharmacological options for chronic pain management!
Mini Blog: 2 minutes with…Luciana Blaga
Meet new NZPS Council member Luciana in the next ‘mini-blog’ instalment…
1. What is your current role/job/position?
I am an Occupational Therapist at Dunedin Public Hospital. I work 0.5 in Acute Physical Inpatients/Surgical and 0.2 in Pain management outpatients. Despite the apparent difference between the two clinical areas, I see patients along the continuum from acute pain to persistent pain, or persistent pain patients looking for a fix with surgery.
2. How did you get into working in Pain Management?
As an occupational therapy student I had a fieldwork placement in Pain Management that sparked my interest in this clinical area. As part of Honours year I took a paper in Pain Management to further this new interest. Several years later, while working in Acute physical I was lucky enough to have been offered the opportunity to actually use the knowledge acquired during the honours year. It happened that the job offer was with the same team I had my student placement.
3. If you weren’t working in Pain Management what would you be doing?
Very likely I would be even more involved in local/national gymnastic community as a rhythmic gymnastics coach. I would also spend more hours sailing on the family Noelex 22 trailer yacht. And I would take up fly fishing.
4. If you could invite any 3 people to have dinner, who would you choose and why?
Queen Maria of Romania (Regina Maria), my great-grandmother Maria and Fred Astaire. They are all people that I admire and that I would’ve liked to meet.
5. What is the most important advance you hope will be made in Pain in the next ten years?
A presence of allied health clinicians involved in pain management education in Primary Care.
NZPS Council 2014/2015
Congratulations to the new NZPS council members elected at last weeks AGM
The council for 2014/2015 are:
President Dr Brigitte Gertoberens Auckland
President-Elect Dr Frances James Auckland
Treasurer Jenny Sandom Dunedin
Secretary Joni Hollows Wellington
Councillors Dr Gwyn Lewis Auckland
Aislinn Carr Auckland
Jim Olson Auckland
Dr Leninani Aiono-Le Tagaloa Auckland
Luciana Blaga Dunedin
Ngau Mamae Editor-in-Chief (Acting) Dr Gwyn Lewis Auckland
If you would like to contact a Council Member click here
Mini Blog: 2 minutes with… Dr Paul Vroegop
I for one had real trouble choosing which of the concurrent sessions I most wanted to attend. If you have selected the Paediatric Pain Workshop (Concurrent Session 3) on Saturday you can look forward to hearing from Dr Paul Vroegop on the disruption of family life that often happens when a young person is living with chronic pain.
1. What is your current role/job/position?
Clinical Head of Youth Mental Health , (sometime) Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist for the Kidz First Paediatric Consult Liaison Team, and consultant at the Chronic Pain Service, all in Counties-Manukau DHB, South Auckland. I feel very lucky to work with really passionate, smart and lovely people.
2. How did you get into working in Pain Management?
It sounded interesting, so I had the good fortune to spend 6 months at TARPS (the Auckland Regional Pain Service) as a senior registrar, where I was inspired and mentored by Bob Large, a wise psychiatrist who set up and led TARPS. When I went to Starship Children’s Hospital Consult Liaison Team, my interest in chronic pain led me to working with Penny Palmer, Paediatrician and Child Psychiatrist, and the Starship Complex Pain Service, before moving to my current roles. I also spent last year studying for my Fellowship in Pain Medicine exams…
3. If you weren’t working in Pain Management what would you be doing?
I’d be a stay at home dad to my two daughters, and doing a PhD exploring chronic pain in children and adolescents during the school day! And doing more fishing and mountain biking (and video gaming, if I’m honest…)
4. If you could invite any 3 people to have dinner, who would you choose and why?
That’s a difficult one, but I’d have to choose whanau; specifically my grandfather (Gampy) whom I never knew as an adult, my Dalmatian great grandfather, and my Dutch great-grandmother. And why? Well, as a psychiatrist I have a fantastic job; I’m honoured that people share their stories with me; and I would love the chance to hear the stories of my tupuna (ancestors) – they sound like amazing people, who lived challenging and interesting lives, and are part of who I am.
5. What is the most important advance you hope will be made in Pain in the next ten years?
I honestly believe that education about pain for health professionals and the public could make the biggest difference to the lives and experiences of people living with pain. Dr Linda Huggins (Palliative Care and Pain Physician) EPM (Essential Pain Management) teaching programme, which started last year in Auckland Medical School, is an example of this kind of approach; the Kidz First Pain Special Interest Group set up by my clinical psychologist colleague Dr Kathryn Russell is a more local example; another approach that I’d love to see is a pain version of the “Like Minds” mental health awareness campaign.
Mini Blog: 2 minutes with… Dr Nicola Swain
If you are attending the Psychologists Meeting on Thursday of the annual Scientific Meeting you will lucky enough to catch Dr Nicola Swain talk about ways on improving access to psychological interventions through the use of the internet
1. What is your current role/job/position?
I am a Senior Lecturer In Psychological Medicine at the Dunedin School of Medicine. My role is 40% teaching, 40% research and 20% community service. It is a nice balance for pain as I can teach and research as well as run seminars, write articles etc. to get the science out to the public (See the latest Good Magazine for my article on chronic pain).
2. How did you get into working in Pain Management?
I don’t really work in pain management. I work in pain research and I also teach pain topics to medical students. I rely on my colleagues for clinical stories and issues. I was inspired to work in this field by my boss, the late professor Oliver Davidson.
3. If you weren’t working in Pain Management what would you be doing?
If not pain, I would have chosen another field of psychological interest like obesity.
4. If you could invite any 3 people to have dinner, who would you choose and why?
I would invite Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Helen Clark. I think they are all exceptional women who have changed and continue to change the world. Their company would be very inspiring as well as informative.
5. What is the most important advance you hope will be made in Pain in the next ten years?
I would like to see a more co-ordinated service available to the public in New Zealand. People must engage in long and expensive searches to find treatment that might work for them. It is possible to centralise information and treatment providers to assist people, along with evidence of their effectiveness. We need to raise awareness of psychological approaches that are as effective as biomedical ones.
Mini Blog: 2 minutes with… Dr Paul Templar
Next up on the ‘2-minutes-with’ couch: Dr Paul Templar
Paul is an Anaesthetist for the Southern DHB whos bio states that his medical interests include maxillo-facial anaesthesia and disruptive physical behaviour and that he would like to become a ninja!
Catch Paul during concurrent Session 1 on Saturday morning Current Challenges in Acute Pain: After 20 Years, Why Are They Still Sore? and A Hard Man’s Tale and Fishing & Failure
1. What is your current role/job/position?
Consultant Anaesthetist at Dunedin and Mercy hospitals and member of the Dunedin hospital acute pain service (APS).
2. How did you get into working in Pain Management?
I started as an Anaesthetic registrar just as the APS was being set up and have been involved ever since – it always made sense to continue excellence in analgesia beyond theatre and PACU
3. If you weren’t working in Pain Management what would you be doing?
If I didn’t do the APS I’d just do all the other stuff I do. My alternative to Medicine would have been a farm vet as I grew up on a dairy farm.
4. If you could invite any 3 people to have dinner, who would you choose and why?
Cain Valasquez UFC heavyweight champion and my most admired sportsman.
Joe Satriani – guitar god – my favourite musician.
Jim Baigin : engineer, pilot, Orthopaedic surgeon, triathlete, captain of the space shuttle on 2 missions, and founder of the Veterans Hospitals critical investigation team – the basis for healthcare incident investigation everywhere. The most accomplished and inspirational speaker I know – he is passionate about patient safety.
And my wife Penelope would have to attend as her charm, beauty, and social skills would relax everyone and ensure a convivial evening.
5. What is the most important advance you hope will be made in Pain in the next ten years?
I’d really like a strong oral pain reliever that doesn’t cause Gastro-intestinal slow down. So we could transition smoothly from an epidural to oral analgesia after big abdominal surgery.