? ? The National Institute of Drug Abuse's (NIDA) mission is to bring the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction; The advances NIDA's mission by increasing understanding of pain management and the relationship between pain management and chemical dependency among healthcare providers, policy makers, and scientists who treat and/or research pain. The 6th International Conference on Pain & Chemical Dependency, held in 2004, registered 468 participants. One-half of these delegates were physicians with 1/3 of the attendees citing pain management as their primary specialty and an additional 1/3 specializing in addiction medicine and chemical dependency. This conference advances the first goal of Healthy People 2010, to increase the quality and years of healthy life and meets Clinical Preventive Care Objective 1-6 to reduce the proportion of families that experience difficulties or delays in obtaining health care or do not receive needed care for one or more family members. ? ? Featured topics of The 7th International Conference on Pain & Chemical Dependency include an international forum focusing on the fear of addiction and its impact on pain, the clinical aspects of pain management, a forum on prescription drug abuse, the use of opioids in nonmalignant pain, management of pain in the chemically dependent, regulatory and ethical issues, and a basic science forum focusing on mechanisms of craving and the genetics of pain and addiction. The conference format includes keynote lectures with panel discussions, interactive breakout sessions, case studies, and scientific poster presentations. Beth Israel Medical Center (BIMC) and St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and will certify The 7th International Conference on Pain & Chemical Dependency. Conference attendees will be eligible to earn up to 23 hours o CME / CE credit. After attending this conference, attendees will be able to meet the following learning objectives: discuss international perspectives on pain management, explain genetic contributions and physiologic mechanisms of pain, explain genetic contributions and physiologic mechanisms of addiction, define pain and list principles of pain assessment, define addiction and list principles of addiction risk assessment, identify specific types of pain and appropriate treatments for each, describe recent data regarding non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and adjuvant analgesics in the treatment of chronic pain, describe therapeutic options for nonmalignant pain, discuss approaches to individualizing pain management, particularly in patients with issues such as high addiction risk or chronic nonmalignant pain, and identify administrative procedures to promote pain management in the context of regulatory environments. ? ? ?
