Columbia University's Rosenthal Center Holds Integrative Pain Medicine Continuing Education Course
Experts explore complementary medicine's role in clinical practice
WHAT: The Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Columbia University will hold its second annual Integrative Pain Medicine course, one of the first programs in the United States that teaches how to integrate complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) into traditional pain management practices.
This introductory continuing medical education course provides an evidence-based overview of pain medicine, combining the best conventional treatments with the most successful complementary and alternative therapies. Attendees will study the fundamentals of modern pain medicine; understand the complementary and alternative medicines used in pain management; and learn how to identify and evaluate competent CAM practitioners.
WHY: Pain disables almost 50 million Americans, is one of the most under-treated conditions in health care, and, recent studies show, is the top reason why people turn to complementary and alternative medicine. Very little teaching is offered about conventional pain medicine at the undergraduate, postgraduate or continuing medical education levels and even less instruction is offered on how common complementary and alternative therapies can be incorporated into pain treatment. New clinical pain management standards from the The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) specifically mandate the availability of non-pharmacological therapies for pain in U.S. hospitals and refer to CAM therapies as appropriate adjuncts for pain treatment.
WHEN: Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, 2003 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Friday (Breakfast begins at 7 a.m.; lectures start at 8 a.m.) 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday (Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m., lectures start at 8:30 a.m.)
WHO: Dr. Fredi Kronenberg, course director and director of the Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.
Course faculty includes:
· Dr. James M. Dillard, assistant clinical professor of rehabilitative medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons; medical director, Oxford Health Plan Complementary & Alternative Medicine Program; author, "Alternative Medicine for Dummies" and "The Chronic Pain Solution."
· Dr. Russell K. Portenoy, professor of neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; chairman, Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care, Beth Israel Medical Center; past president of the American Pain Society
· Dr. Richard Payne, chief, pain and palliative care service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; president, the American Pain Society.
WHERE: Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Hammer Health Sciences Center 701 W. 168th St., Room 401, NYC
FYI: RSVPs are required. For media requests, call Leslie Boen at 212-305-3900. For general inquiries, contact Ann Berezowski at 212-342-0101. For more detailed course information, visit http://www.rosenthal.hs.columbia.edu.