Peer-reviewed
Chronic pain: treatment barriers and strategies for clinical practice
Chronic pain is a clinical challenge for the practicing physician. Lack of knowledge about opioids, negative attitudes toward prescribing opioids, and inadequate pain-assessment skills combine to create major barriers to pain relief. Patient-related barriers, such as lack of communication and unwarranted fears of addiction, further complicate pain assessment and treatment. The health care system itself can hinder pain relief through practical constraints in the community and fear of regulatory scrutiny by the physician
Article, 2001