Health Care Professional Resources

The importance of a collaborative approach to chronic pain is vital in improving the lives of the 3.24 million Australians living with this debilitating condition. GPs are at the front line to this endemic with 1 in 5 GP consultations involving patients with chronic pain.

Northern Pain Centre is committed to assisting with the improvement of best-practice chronic pain management. The importance of this has been highlighted in the “The cost of pain in Australia Report” for Painaustralia.  The cost of pain in Australia Report for Painaustralia by Lynne Pezzullo, Lead Partner, Health Economics and Social Policy, Deloitte Access Economics (4 April 2019 )

This page contains links to useful resources for Health Practitioners managing chronic pain in their practice:

• Medical Assessment Tools:
  • ACI: Pain Assessment
  • PainAustralia: Clinical Assessment of Pain
  • Pain Management Network: Pain Management Outline
  • ACI: Verbal Numerical Ratine Scale (NRS)
  • ACI: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
  • ACI: Face Pain Scale (revised)
  • ACI: Red Flags for Lower Back Pain
  • ACI: Classification for Neuropathic Pain (DN4 Assessment Tool)
  • Brief Pain Inventory Assessment
  • PEG Pain Screening Tool
  • Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21) Form
  • Patient Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ)
  • Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS) Form
  • Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS) Manual
  • ePPOC Clinical Reference Manual (Section 5: Patient Reported Outcome Measures)
  • Comorbidity Guidelines: An Overview of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)
  • Journal Article: Development and Validation of PEG Screening Tool
  • Journal Article: Practical Pain Management: Guide to Chronic Pain Assessment Tools

• Medication and Opioids:
  • ACI: Opioid Risk Assessment Tool
  • ACI: 5 A’s of Analgesia
  • NSW Government Clinical Guidelines: Treatment of Opioid Dependence 2018
  • PainAustralia: The Cost of Pain in Australia Report (2019). Section 12: Opioid Harm
  • PainAustralia: The Cost of Pain in Australia (Full report, 2019). Section 7: Opioid Harm
  • RACGP: Prescribing drugs of dependence in general practice: Opioids
  • RACGP: The role of opioids in pain management
  • Australian Government: Safety and Quality with Prescribing Opioids at All Ages
  • RANZCP: Prescription Opioid Policy

• Interesting Articles and Publications:
  • Australian Pain Society: Pain in Residential Aged Facilities (publication)
  • RACGP: The inherited chronic pain patient (article)
  • RACGP: GP Pain Management: What are the ‘Ps’ and ‘As’ of Pain Management? (article)
  • RACGP: Unravelling the Efficacy of Antidepressants as Analgesics (article)
  • RACGP: Neuropathic and Non-Neuropathic Chronic Pain at GP Encounters: Prevalence, Patient Characteristics, Suffering and Pregabalin Use
  • RACGP:Mind-Body Therapies: Use in Chronic Pain Management
  • RACGP: Muscular-skeletal Chest Wall Pain
  • Pain Management Today: January 2014, Volume 1, Number 1, Page 8.  Title: Acute back pain. Beyond drug therapies. Download Article.
  • Goal setting practice in chronic low back pain. What is current practice and is it affected by beliefs and attitudes?  Tania Gardner, BSc PT, Grad Cert (Safety Science), Kathryn Refshauge, OAM FAHMS, PT, Grad Dip (ManipTher), MS BIoEng, PhD, James McAuley, PhD,Markus Hübscher, PhD, Stephen Goodall, PhD & Lorraine Smith, BA (Hons), PhD.  Published online: 18 Jan 2018 Download Article
  • PainAustralia: Talking About Pain. Language Guidelines for Chronic Pain (2018)
  • NSW Government: National Action Plan for Pain Management (2019)
  • PainAustralia: 2019 Strategic Plan and Annual Report
  • PainAustralia: The Cost of Pain in Australia Report (2019).
  • PainAustralia: The Cost of Pain in Australia (Full report, 2019).

• Workers Compensation:
  • SafeWork NSW
  • NSW Government: Safety in the Workplace
  • NSW Government: Reducing the risk of muscular-skeletal injury in the workplace
  • SafeWork NSW: Resource Library
  • State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA)
  • SIRA: A to Z of Service Providers
  • SIRA: Treatment Advice Centre (assistance treating injured people)
  • Insurance and Care NSW: icare
  • icare: The NSW Workers Compensation System

• Resources for Your Patients and Their Families:
  • Understanding chronic pain resources (go to section here)
  • Understanding your painful condition (go to section here)
  • Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Resources (go to section here)
  • Sight and hearing-impaired resources (go to section here)
  • Chronic pain and exercise resources (go to section here)
  • Chronic pain and diet resources (go to section here)
  • Chronic pain and sleep resources (go to section here)
  • Chronic pain and mood resources (go to section here)
  • Chronic pain and flare management resources (go to section here)
  • Chronic pain, stress reduction and relaxation resources (go to section here)
  • Chronic pain and relationships (go to section here)
  • Community engagement and support resources (go to section here)
  • NPC Patient Resource: Living Well with Chronic Pain: resources, support and assistance
  • NPC Patient Resource: Understanding Chronic Pain
  • NPC Patient Resource: Pain and Active Self-Management
  • NPC Patient Resource: Pain and Movement
  • NPC Patient Resource: Pain and Nutrition
  • NPC Patient Resource: Pain and Sleep
  • NSW: Support for Carers
  • Beyond Blue: Depression and the Elderly
  • Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention

Photo by Susanne Schwarz on Unsplash