An article in the New York Times written by Robert Pear, dated March 29, 2008, caught my attention. The title is “Study finds many patients dissatisfied with hospitals.” Upon reading the article, my curiosity was triggered by complaints related to pain management. Here is an excerpt:

“Many patients reported that they had not been treated with courtesy and respect by doctors and nurses; that they had not received adequate pain medication after surgery; and that they did not understand the instructions they received when discharged from the hospital... [moreover] Nancy E. Foster, a vice president of the American Hospital Association, agreed that many hospitals needed to do a better job of controlling pain and communicating with patients. Pain control keeps patients comfortable and can speed healing and reduce complications after surgery.”

Before I began studying for the medical profession, I was under the impression that pain management was the one aspect of modern medicine that was highly effective. The average person would regurgitate to others what they believed to be true, “If anything, at least the pain can be controlled by pharmaceuticals.”  

However, after observing patients on pain medications, I find that the degree of effectiveness varies quite a bit and the long term use of medications can adversely affect the patient’s wellness and ability to heal from a given diagnosed condition.

Can modern treatment for pain be more effective?

Enter Acupuncture

In the United States, acupuncture is known but not widely accepted. Even so it is more than just a means of reducing pain, which it is primarily noted for since 1972 when President Nixon’s entourage returned with amazing accounts of Chinese medicine used for anesthesia.

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