Dr John Alchin
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Clinical Senior Lecturer, Orthopaedic Surgery & Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Otago, NZ
In the 1980s I worked in rural general practice (Chatham Islands for 3 years, and then 2 years in northern Tasmania). In the 1990s I was employed for 8 years by Air NZ at Christchurch airport in Occupational and Aviation Medicine. Then from 1998 I was an SMO in the Pain Management Centre at Burwood Hospital, Christchurch for 23 years, before retiring from clinical practice 2 years ago. I was Vocationally Registered in Pain Medicine, and Occupational and Environmental Medicine. I continue to teach in the post-graduate Pain courses at the Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch.
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Drugs - What Not to Prescribe, and How to Explain Why
Sadly, and surprisingly to patients, there is no effective medication treatment for most patients with chronic pain. Why is this? And how can we try to explain this to patients? (“You want me to believe that we can send people to the moon, but you can’t fix my back pain? I am a motor bike mechanic, and I can fix bikes. And you get paid much more than I am ...” “What about medical cannabis? Morphine?” “I have heard there is treatment available in … so why can’t I have it here?”) We will discuss the limitations of available agents, including paracetamol, NSAIDs, opioids, and cannabinoids.
