Providing chronic pain management in the Fifth Vital Sign Era: Historical and treatment perspectives on a modern-day medical dilemma

摘要

BackgroundOver 100 million Americans are living with chronic pain, and pain is the most common reason that patients seek medical attention. Despite the prevalence of pain, the practice of pain management and the scientific discipline of pain research are relatively new fields compared to the rest of medicine – contributing to a twenty-first century dilemma for health care providers asked to relieve suffering in the “Fifth Vital Sign” era.