21st Century Pain Units. Consensus Protocols or Evidence-Based Medicine?

Abstract

Research in medicine is intended to generate new knowledge to help in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. However, medicine is not an exact science; rather, it is a heterogeneous human activity based only partially on science and involves several non-scientific factors that influence the way it is developed. Pain, as a symptom or as a disease, is probably the disorder that most affects and worries people, and is what most often prompts medical consultation. Despite the magnitude of the problem, and the medical and social interest in pain, the care and treatment of persons with chronic pain is an issue that is undervalued or inadequately addressed. Based on variety of questions posed throughout this document, the objective is, on the one hand, to point out that the changes that have occurred in the way chronic pain is managed make the so-called consensus protocols an obsolete exercise in 21st century medicine. On the other hand, in terms of bioethics, the authors answer the question: Do consensus protocols conform to the principle of beneficence for the individual patient?