The Pain Assessment and Documentation Tool

Steven D. Passik, PhD

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York

Clinical trial evidence, expert opinion, and recommendations in clinical practice guidelines support long-term opioid therapy in appropriately selected and monitored patients with chronic nonmalignant pain. The Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, for example, has recommended that therapy include medical documentation of the nature and intensity of the pain, current and past treatments, comorbid conditions, functional effects of the pain, and history of substance abuse. Translating guideline recommendations for long-term opioid therapy to clinical practice would be facilitated by a consistent method of documenting the 4 A’s of pain medicine: analgesia, adverse events, activities of daily living, and aberrant drug-related behaviors. To that end, Passik and colleagues have used an industry-supported grant to develop the Pain Assessment and Documentation Tool, a 2-page charting device that focuses on key pain management outcomes over time.

References

Passik SD, Kirsh KL, Whitcomb L, et al. Monitoring outcomes during long-term opioid therapy for noncancer pain: results with the Pain Assessment and Documentation Tool. J Opioid Manag. 2005;1(5):257-266.
Passik SD, Kirsh KL, Whitcomb L, et al. A new tool to assess and document pain outcomes in chronic pain patients receiving opioid therapy. Clin Ther. 2004;26(4):552-61.
Federation of State Medical Boards of United States, Inc. Model Guidelines for the Use of Controlled Substances for the Treatment of Pain.
Passik SD, Weinreb HJ. Managing chronic nonmalignant pain: overcoming obstacles to the use of opioids. Adv Ther. 2000;17(2):70-83.

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