German Society for Pain Medicine eV
Berlin (ots)
The German Pain and Palliative Care Day 2023, the largest congress event on the subject of pain in Germany, began today under the motto “Worry and care – pain medicine in concrete terms”. At the beginning, the congress presidents Dr. Johannes Horlemann, President of the German Society for Pain Medicine (DGS) eV, and PD Dr. Michael A. Everywhere, Vice President of the DGS and President of the German Pain League, an overview of the topics of the congress. Immediately after the opening of the congress, the philosopher and doctor Prof. Dr. Giovanni Maio, Freiburg, emphasized in his excellence lecture “Care as an identity-creating element in pain medicine” that “only care as part of medical professionalism ensures that we can implement good medicine.” This year’s patron of the congress is Martina Stamm-Fibich, member of the Bundestag, patient representative of the SPD parliamentary group and member of the health committee.
In addition to health services research, palliative medicine – including the first results of a survey on physician-assisted suicide – invasive procedures, headaches with a focus on primary care, psychotherapy in times of scarce resources and the health policy symposium are the focal points of this year’s conference. This is also where the new “Diabetes and Pain” curriculum starts, with four hours on the German Pain and Palliative Care Day and a further eight hours in the first half of 2023. “The interdisciplinary and interactive further training is aimed at general practitioners, diabetologists, internists, pain medicine specialists and relatives other health professions and everyone involved in the pain management of people with diabetes,” says Horlemann. At the health policy symposium on Saturday, the topics “Security in demand planning” and “Cannabis in pain medicine against the background of current legalization efforts” as well as the promotion of young pain medicine specialists will be discussed. From the point of view of the DGS, legally secure needs planning is of primary importance in the course of strengthening pain medical care. Omnipresent at the conference are the DGS practice guidelines, for example on tumor pain, cannabis in pain medicine and headache, as well as the DGS practice guidelines on lower back pain and fibromyalgia.
Under the motto “supply meets health services research” there is a poster exhibition for the first time since the congress has been held online. The aim is to network care researchers and practical care providers. The posters with the best ratings will be awarded during the congress and announced in the main programme. The abstracts of all accepted contributions will also be published electronically in a special edition of the journal SCHMERZMEDIZIN. For international visitors, the congress also offers lectures in English for the first time.
Health services research is not a science far removed from practice
With the focus “Care and care – concretely shaping the future of pain medicine”, this year’s congress focuses on two main areas of concern for people with pain that is difficult to treat and their best possible care. “Patient-oriented and, above all, not only proclaiming and demanding, but also concretely influential, evidence-based pain and palliative medicine can only lead to the desired sustainable improvements in patient care if the responsible actors and those affected are involved in its development,” admitted Überall to ponder. Contributions to the congress program on health services research would make it clear that this is not a science that is far removed from practice for just a few. Rather, it is a central task of all those involved in practical care – and above all the doctors interested in pain medicine. For the first time this year, the congress offers modules to improve the competence of practicing doctors with regard to the value and usefulness of scientific studies for everyday care.
Plea for humanity in medicine
Against an overemphasis on economics and for Prof. Maio, Director of the Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Freiburg and member of the Board of Directors of the Interdisciplinary Ethics Center Freiburg, spoke out in favor of upgrading the attention to the patient. Humanity includes caring for patients. “If we did not regard “care” as something that creates identity in medicine, we would degrade medicine to a purely performing discipline. It would be a discipline of impersonal addition of advantages, a discipline of repair. Only care as part of medical professionalism guarantees that we can implement good medicine, because without concern we would ignore interpersonal relationships,” says the doctor and philosopher. He warned against a relapse into a mechanistic view of man, which medicine would actually have already said goodbye to. It is important to take guidelines and standards into account. “However, good therapy also requires consideration of the individual life history of the patient,” emphasized Prof. Maio.
Five congress days
The German Pain and Palliative Care Day 2023 lasts five days, from Tuesday, March 14th, to Saturday, March 18th, 2023. From Tuesday to Friday, the seminars and symposiums will take place in the afternoons to evenings – on Saturday mornings. Most of the lectures will then be available in the media library on demand until mid-May 2023. Registrations can be made via this link: www.dgschmerzmedizin.de/kongresse/deutscher-schmerz-und-palliativtag/. The congress will be registered with the Berlin Medical Association for certification.
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Original content from: German Society for Pain Medicine eV, transmitted by news aktuell