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A combined nurse-pharmacist managed pain clinic: joint venture of public and private sectors

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Abstract

Chronic pain has become one of the most prevalent problems in primary care. The management of chronic pain is complex and often requires a multidisciplinary approach. The limited capacity of general practitioners to manage chronic pain and long waiting time for secondary care referrals further add to the complexity of chronic pain management. Restricted financial and skilled human capital make it hard for healthcare systems across the world to establish and maintain multidisciplinary pain clinics, in spite of their documented effectiveness. Affordability and accessibility to such multidisciplinary pain clinics is often problematic for patients. The purpose of this paper is to share our experience and relevant research evidence of a community based combined nurse-pharmacist managed pain clinic. The pain clinic serves as an example of public–private partnership in healthcare.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Kathryn Marczewski, Clinical Nurse Specialist and Linda Simpson, Clinical Pharmacist at Pain clinic, St. Georges Centre, Middleton, Leeds for their invaluable feedback on enhancing the “working of the clinic” section. The first author MAH would like to thank School of Healthcare, University for Leeds for funding his PhD.

Conflicts of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Healthcare, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9UT, UK

    Muhammad Abdul Hadi, David Phillip Alldred, Michelle Briggs & S. José Closs

Authors
  1. Muhammad Abdul Hadi
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  2. David Phillip Alldred
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  3. Michelle Briggs
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  4. S. José Closs
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Abdul Hadi.

Additional information

All authors have substantially contributed in the development of the article.

This commentary discusses a novel nurse and pharmacist managed pain clinic in primary care. It highlights the emerging role of pharmacists in pain management and provides research evidence on the effectiveness of the clinic. It is particularly appropriate for the readership of this journal and therefore should be considered for publication.

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Hadi, M.A., Alldred, D.P., Briggs, M. et al. A combined nurse-pharmacist managed pain clinic: joint venture of public and private sectors. Int J Clin Pharm 34, 1–3 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-011-9591-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-011-9591-1

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