Implementation of shared medical appointments to offer battlefield acupuncture efficiently to veterans with pain

Background

The use of prescription opioids in the treatment of pain has increased notably over recent decades.1 With this increase, dramatic unintended consequences have arisen. Rates of death from prescribed opioids increased fourfold between 2000 and 2014.2 Integrative care has been suggested as a potentially safer alternative to opioids in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain and acupuncture has been shown to be an effective treatment for chronic pain.3 Battlefield acupuncture (BFA), an easily learnt subset of auricular acupuncture, has been proposed to treat a variety of painful disorders in active military members and veterans.4 Patients undergo insertion of five auricular semi-permanent (ASP) needles to the following traditional ear acupuncture points bilaterally: Cingulate Gyrus, Thalamus, Omega 2, Point Zero and Shenmen (figure 1). While other investigators have evaluated models for integrating medical acupuncture into practice,5 to our knowledge,...

from # All Medicine by Alexandros G. Sfakianakis via Alexandros G.Sfakianakis on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2sPm2Mk
via IFTTT