Integrative Health & Medicine in Comprehensive Pain Management: A Personal Perspective on the Military and Federal Healthcare Experience

Presented by: Eric Schoomaker, MD, PhD

Recorded: February 2017

The session is preparing for a more comprehensive panel discussion to be led by John Weeks entitled "Pain, Prejudice, and Opioids: Emerging Policy and Integrative Practice". The session will trace the efforts of the military to tackle the long-term challenges of service-related pain and its management (related to natural causes, training, deployment, and combat wounds). The discussion will draw upon the personal experiences of the speaker in fostering and supporting a more comprehensive approach to the understanding, mitigation, self-care, and healthcare management of acute and chronic pain. The piloting and growing efforts of Army and Military Medicine, the Veterans Health Administration, the NIH (notably, the NCCIH), and other Federal agencies will be described.

As the aperture of pain management approaches has been opened over the past decade to develop and field a complementary and integrated approach that is patient-centered and patient-driven, is team-based, evidence-based, and multidisciplinary, the challenges and successes of these efforts will be highlighted.

This presentation was recorded at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium Annual Conference.