Acute Pain Management Service
The Acute Pain Management Service (APMS) provides a 24-hour service to the patients of Western Health. This service is led by consultant anaesthetist, Dr Bronwen Evans and 2 clinical nurse consultants Jill Woods (Master of Science in Medicine - Pain Management) & Davina Taylor (Master of Education - Professional Education & Training). Consulant anaesthetists, Drs Courtney, Jeffreys & Lang provide speacialist advise and interventions for patients with chronic and palliative pain management needs. An anaesthetic registrar provides 24 hour cover at both Western & Sunshine campus. Patients with acute, chronic & end of life pain are consulted by the service.
During the 2006-2007 financial year a total of 2946 patient were reviewed by the APMS, including 1156 obstetric patient. APMS supervises a wide spectrum of anlagesic techniques, the majority being patient controlled intravenous analgesia (PCA). Other analgesic modalities include epidural analgesia, nerve plexus catheters and ketamine infusions. Patient in all surgical subspecialties are represented.
Chronic Pain Management Service
The chronic pain service run by the Anaesthetic Department functions as an interdisciplinary service, with cross referrals between specialist clinics within the hospital and increasingly referrals from the community. The service offered is predominately procedural. Most of the procedural workload involves spinal injection techniques and sympathetic blocks, neurolytic blocks and spinal catheters/reservoirs for oncology/palliative care patients whose pain is difficult to control by the usual means. Close links with hand therapists and physiotherapists in treating patients with complex regional pain syndrome have also been established.The Anaesthetic department also acts as a triage system for patients who would be better treated elsewhere. Some patients are referred to Drug and Alcohol Service for help with detoxification and counseling or to other facilities when it is felt that they would benefit from a multidisciplinary approach to their problem.