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Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, inaugurated the country's
first Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care on September 8, 1997.
We are dedicated to providing comprehensive care of the highest quality in
pain management and palliative care, and advancing the educational and research
aims of these disciplines.
Clinical Programs in the Pain Division
Chronic nonmalignant pain can have devastating effects on patients' quality
of life. The specialty of pain management has developed in medicine and other
disciplines to address the need for comfort, functional restoration, and treatment
of associated problems.
The Pain Division has a multidisciplinary team, including neurologists, anesthesiologists,
rehabilitation medicine physicians, a psychologist, and advance practice nurses.
Based on a careful assessment by a physician, a treatment approach is tailored
to the patient's diagnosis and targeted to the patient's specific physical and
psychosocial condition. The goals are to reduce pain, improve functioning, enhance
the quality of life, and reduce dependence on the healthcare system.
Treatment approaches include:
- Expertise in drug therapy for pain, including nonopioid and opioid drugs.
- Psychological interventions, including cognitive approaches such as biofeedback
and hypnosis, and formal psychotherapy.
- Access to rehabilitative therapies including physical therapy, occupational
therapy, and treatment with analgesic modalities such as transcutaneous
electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), ultrasound, and others.
- Invasive pain relieving treatments, including myofascial trigger point
injections, nerve blocks, spinal infusions using implanted pumps, and spinal
stimulators.
- Access to complementary approaches, including acupuncture, massage, and
other modalities.
Patients are self-referred or referred through their healthcare provider. Need
an appointment or consultation? Please call (212) 844-8930 and select Option
0 (zero).
Here's the address of our Chronic Pain Program:
Phillips Ambulatory Care Center
10 Union Square East (at 14th Street), Suite 2Q/2R
New York, NY 10003
Get Map and Directions
Clinical Programs in the Palliative Care Division
Palliative care is a treatment model focused on the care of patients with all
types of serious illnesses, including cancer; AIDS; advanced diseases of the
heart, lungs, kidney and liver; and neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia.
Palliative care includes a broad range of interventions that together help the
patient and family maintain a good quality of life while living with the disease,
and allow the patient with advanced illness to face the end of life with comfort
ensured, values and decisions respected, and the family supported.
Palliative care is an evolving specialty in medicine and other disciplines.
Referral to a specialized program in palliative care offers patients expertise
in pain and symptom control, coordination of multiple interventions to address
the diverse problems associated with serious illness, and assistance with advance
care planning and other end-of-life concerns.
The Palliative Care Division offers a specialized multidisciplinary program,
which includes the following:
- Assessment and management by an inpatient consultation team that includes
a physician, advanced practice nurse, social worker, chaplain, and music
therapist.
- An ambulatory practice that can provide expertise in pain and symptom
control, and help coordinate care.
- Access to an 18-bed inpatient hospice, palliative care, and pain unit
at Beth Israel Medical Center, where patients with acute problems, such
as severe uncontrolled pain, can be admitted and treated by specialists
in palliative care.
- Access to
MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care, if appropriate.
- Access to a
Family Caregiver Program for the family caregivers of selected
patients. This program attempts to meet the informational and support needs of caregivers.
The
treatment model implemented by the Palliative Care Division continually addresses
unmet needs—physical, psychological, social, and spiritual—that
evolve during the disease. At a weekly Palliative Care Division meeting, patients
are discussed by the members of the team, who continually adjust the care plan
as needed. Our certified hospice program offers an array of services to eligible
patients, including access to an interdisciplinary team while at home; drugs,
supplies and equipment at no cost; access to aides and other services; and bereavement
support for the family.
Our academic mission is furthered by the efforts of researchers and educators
in the
Institute for Education and Research in Pain and Palliative Care. These
efforts are focused on education of professionals, patients and families, and
the community at large, and on research into diverse clinical issues related
to pain or palliative care.
Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care
Beth Israel Medical Center
First Avenue at 16th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 844-8970
Email: StopPain@chpnet.org
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