The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) has come up with a new proposal for defining pain. The body seeks to obtain public comments. The pain community members are being urged to make their submissions in the form of written comments. The new definition describes pain as a chronic condition that could at times continue without causing tissue damage.
A close outlook
Two years ago, IASP settled for a Task Force which it entrusted with scrutinizing of the current definition of pain. This is a definition that has been used on a wide scale for many years around the world. The body’s latest definition is ready to be unveiled together with the supportive notes.
The problem with the earlier definition was that it failed to at covering the diverse forms of pain about 50 million adults in America go through every day. This concern was massive, leading to the formulation of a taskforce to review the old definition, and come with something more elaborate. It has taken 41 years for IASP to come up with a new comprehensive way to describe pain.
Defining pain
The proposed definition wasn’t a one-man show! That was an undertaking involving most of the Task Force members who worked together with the IASP council.
The body values the principle of inclusion. This is the reason why it sought public examination as well as comments on the new proposed definition. There discussions and reviews were also quite intense.
Feedback from the general public is set to inform the final decision that will be arrived at. There are a series of discussions to be conducted before arriving at the final definition.
Why change the definition?
Many reasons have been cited so far, the most important having something to do with enhancing the understanding of health care providers and patients’ understanding of the term. The new definition speaks of pain as an emotional and sensory experience that could at times be delinked to tissue damage.
The sharing of a proper understanding of the term will be quite useful in service delivery. It helps serviced providers attend to patients the right way. In that case, there will be major improvements to the optimal treatment.
