Primary Care Shared Medical Appointment for Pain Management: A Pilot Program

Abstract

Effective strategies that are evidence-based and non-addictive are needed to manage chronic pain and combat the opioid crisis. One potential strategy is to utilize a shared medical appointment (SMA), which is a model of providing clinical care in a group setting with multiple healthcare team members for comprehensive pain management. The purpose of this retrospective chart review is to evaluate the impact of a pain management SMA at the William S. Middleton Veterans Affairs (VA) West Clinic on opioid use and behaviors. Quantitative and qualitative data was obtained from the electronic medical record of 16 Veterans who participated in the pain SMA and analyzed using descriptive statistics. In addition to a reduction in opioid doses six months post SMA, participants gained non-pharmacological referrals, addition of non-opioid pain medications, and a mix of didactic and experiential education on pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment modalities to help manage their chronic pain. This SMA allowed for greater access to healthcare professionals with a sole focus on pain management and provided Veterans with a holistic approach to their pain management.

Keywords:

• Chronic pain
• shared medical appointment
• interdisciplinary
• veteran
• opioid

Acknowledgements

We thank Emilia Ruiz, MD, Jennifer Gansen, PT (Whole Health), Mari Madden, RN, Katarina (Nina) Spelter, RD, Laura Stephens, LPN, Ediee Chavez, LPN, and Amanda Sanders, AMSA for being part of this shared medical appointment.

Declaration of interest

The author reports no conflict of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.