#92. Is Physical Therapy, The Panacea of Chronic Pain?
Pedia Pain Focus
Have you ever had any of your patients say that they don't think physical therapy helps their pain? Or that the physical therapy made their pain worse? It would certainly not surprise me, if you said yes. And in that case, this is definitely is the episode you want to listen to carefully. And if your answer to my question was no, this is an episode for you too, my friend. Because sooner or later you too will join this elite club with rest of us. However, this episode will give you the framework and tools to change that in your practice. Learn it from our guest who magically...
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#91. Mental Health and Pediatric Pain; Chicken or the Egg?
Pedia Pain Focus
Pain and mental illnesses coexist, often more than any of other illnesses. Both of them have a profound effect on a child's child’s quality of life, individually. Now imagine the magnitude of impact when they co-exist. In this episode, Dr. Anjana Kundu, with guest speaker Dr. Mirabelle Mattar, a child, and adolescent psychiatrist, discusses the intricate and dynamic relationship between pediatric pain and mental health, likely cause or affect and prognosis for a child with pain in the setting of mental health issues or vice-versa. They also discussed the factors...
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#90. Can We Prevent Pain from Becoming Chronic?
Pedia Pain Focus
Acute pain may be a protective and adaptive phenomenon, but chronic pain is nothing but damaging and a burden in every way possible and for all involved directly or indirectly. So how do we reduce or can we reduce burden? Join me in this episode to learn the factors that contribute to chronicity of pain and whether we can prevent it. Takeaways in This Episode Complexities of pain and its impact for the individuals and the society What differentiates acute from chronic pain and why that is important Various factors contributing to pain and its chronicity Modifiable vs....
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#89. The Pain of Being a Redhead
Pedia Pain Focus
An anesthesiologist or a dentist might tell you that redheads need more anesthesia or local anesthetic. Yet research around their pain perception, tolerance, modulation and response to different pain medications is much more variable and complicated. Join me to learn the recent and emerging evidence about the pain among redheads and what you can do for effectively and safely managing it!
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#88. Pharmacovigilance to Evaluate Efficacy and Net Clinical Benefit in Pediatric Pain Medicine
Pedia Pain Focus
What if you had the lessons from the hindsight AND the foresight while managing children's pain? How would that change your practice? How would that change the outcomes of pediatric pain treatments?
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87. Shifting the Paradigm in Pediatric Pain Medicine
Pedia Pain Focus
Pediatric pain has long been and continues to be neglected for many reasons and because of many challenges. In this episode we discuss those factors and more importantly, the way forward to make the paradigm shift, overcoming challenges and recognizing opportunities.
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#86. Essential Elements of a Successful Patient Encounter
Pedia Pain Focus
A clinical care visit is like flying a plane. It has to be smooth (charming), safe (thorough) yet efficient and on time!
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#85. Pain Amongst Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Pedia Pain Focus
Rising prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders, contradicting opinions and misconceptions around pain sensitivity and expression among these patients pose unique challenges for clinicians.
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#84. Post-Concussive Headache and Symptom Management in Children
Pedia Pain Focus
Headache is a presenting symptom in 90% of children after a traumatic head injury and for many it may persist for years. It can be extremely debilitating and difficult to treat, posing several unique diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Join me in conversation with Blake Windsor, MD a pediatrician with a subspecialty in training for pediatric pain medicine, a board certified headache specialist and Chief of Primas Health Pediatric Pain Medicine.
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#83. Reengineering Pediatric Perioperative Care for Optimal Outcomes
Pedia Pain Focus
Postoperative outcomes and success of the interventions is certainly dependent on the analgesia and anesthesia care, but what truly drives the outcomes is a complex interplay of biopsychosocial factors; an alignment between the patients and family's goals and medical as well as surgical interventions. How one goes about achieving that is what this episode is all about!
info_outlineMany factors contribute to children's pain being under estimated, under-recognized and inadequately treated. Kathryn Birnie, PhD shares her work identifying the top priorities essential for improvement in pediatric pain management.
Join me in this episode as she shares her patient-oriented research which includes them in priority setting and recognizing the areas where we need to focus on.
Her work is grounded in empowering the disempowered; the pediatric pain patients and their caregivers, working alongside and in concert with the clinicians, making the small and big shifts in doing so especially when there is a power differential.
Dr Birnie discusses the top 10 priorities identified in pediatric pain management, how they went about doing so, especially having to distill them down to 10 from >500 identified at the start. She shares which one or ones of them should be prioritized to the top of the line, how that is relevant to each one of us caring for children, and what surprising elements, perspectives or shifts they encountered in the course of this work.
We also explore her role as the Assistant Scientific Director of Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP), a knowledge mobilization initiative and how healthcare professionals and patients and families can participate in and benefit from SKIP.
Dr. Birnie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the University of Calgary and a clinical psychologist at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
Tune in to learn more about how she is contributing to shaping pain research, education and clinical care for kids with pain and how that influences us as healthcare professionals in our day to day work!
Takeaways In This Episode
- How Dr. Birnie got involved in pediatric pain management and what fueled the work she’s doing right now
- Dr. Birnie shares behind the scenes of her research, Partnering for Pain, and its design involving patients and families alongside the clinicians and other stakeholders in improving pain care of children.
- The top 10 priorities in pediatric pain that Dr. Birnie and partners found
- What priorities we should be focusing on
- The gaps that various stakeholders need to be aware of in managing children's pain
- Work that SKIP is doing to advance pediatric pain care
- How institutions or healthcare professionals can be the beneficiaries of SKIP and how they may contribute to this important work
- Dr. Birnie's words of advice to healthcare professionals taking care of children with pain
Links
Connect with Dr. Birnie - Linkedin Twitter @katebirnie
Keeping Up with Today - Dr Christine Chamber's Podcast
There's an App for that - Dr Jennifer Stinson's Podcast episode
Making Pediatric Pain Matter - Dr Christopher Eccleston's podcast Episode
Role of Epigenetics in Post-surgical Pain - Dr. Vidya Chidambaran's podcast episode
Manage Memory, Manage Pain - Dr Melanie Noel's podcast episode
Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP)
Clinicians Pain Evaluation Toolkit
About the Guest
Dr. Birnie completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University in 2016, including a predoctoral residency in Pediatric Health Psychology at the IWK Health Centre. She completed a CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Birnie also spent time as a clinical research postdoctoral fellow and clinical psychologist at the University Health Network, including with the Transitional Pain Service at Toronto General Hospital and the Interventional Pain Program at Toronto Western Hospital. Dr. Birnie joined Alberta Children’s Hospital as a medical psychologist in 2018, where she continues to provide clinical care through the Vi Riddell Children’s Pain and Rehabilitation Program.
Dr. Birnie is a recognized leader in pain research and patient partnership, for which she has received a number of national and international accolades. She was the recipient of the 2020 Pain Awareness Award from the Canadian Pain Society and was selected as a 2020-2021 MAYDAY Fellow, a prestigious fellowship focused on communications and advocacy for improved pain care. Previously highlighted awards include the Dr. John T. Goodman Award for Trainee Research in Pediatric Pain, the Brain Star Award from the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, and a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.