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U.S. National Pain Foundation eyes “digital communities” for pain management
Feb. 12, 2014 — The U.S. National Pain Foundation (NPF), based in Golden, Colorado, plans to create global digital communities for people suffering from pain in an effort to increase understanding of pain, its treatment and management.
February 12, 2014 By PR Newswire
The NPF has also announced it is being reformed as an independent,
not-for-profit organization to transform the way pain is fundamentally
understood, assessed and treated for every human being.
"We are
resurrecting The National Pain Foundation because of the continued and
unmet need for significantly more patient input into how pain is
diagnosed and treated," said Dr. Daniel Bennett, MD, of Denver,
Colorado, who founded NPF in 1998.
The foundation will give voice
to 1.5 billion people in pain by creating digital communities where
they can share their experiences and needs through surveys, forums and
data collection means – what the foundation calls the "digital footprint
of pain."
"We will effectively create the world’s most
comprehensive observational database of people in pain, their
behaviours, their treatments and their needs. This will allow pain
patients to actually participate in advancing how pain is understood and
treated, versus being the misunderstood sufferers they have been for so
long," Dr. Bennett added.
Through data collection and analyses of the "digital footprint of pain" The National Pain Foundation will:
• Bring about a true understanding of what pain is and whom it affects
• Educate the public and bring about better understanding of people in pain so they may be treated more fairly
• Enable researchers to advance pain treatments across socio-economic and ethnic differences
• Develop true best practices for healthcare providers to deliver better care to people in pain
• Uncover reasons for increased vulnerability to pain due to income, education, age, gender and race
• Provide intelligence to industry on what products and treatments people in pain want and need
The
foundation expects to attract funding from foundations, industry and
individuals who have interest in improving the lives of those who suffer
in pain.
The National Pain Foundation will be announcing some of its cornerstone activities in the coming months.
According
to statistics, pain affects 1.5 billion people globally and is the
number one reason people see a doctor. In the U.S. pain affects about
100 million adults, and costs American society $635 billion in lost
productivity and medical treatment, according to the NPF.
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