Pain Management Clinic

The Pain Management Clinic assists patients in their efforts to cope with persistent pain. The goal of the Pain Management Program at the North Bay Regional Health Centre is to provide patients with education about their condition and develop strategies for coping with pain so that they may live as full and functional a life as possible. The NBRHC is dedicated to helping patients develop coping skills so that pain ceases to be the focus in their lives.

This clinic is provided on an outpatient basis. Treatment may include consultation with the physician for the diagnosis and management of chronic pain disorders as well as interventional options such as medications, pain blocks, education and problem solving as applicable for various sources of chronic pain. Chronic pain is defined as “pain lasting longer than six months or pain persisting beyond the reasonable amount of time for an injury to heal”. Chronic pain affects many people.

Services are provided on a as available basis, by an anesthesiologist with expertise, skill and knowledge of chronic pain management and a office coordinator. Other team members include specially trained Registered Nurses and Xray Technologists. Physicians from other disciplines such as Psychiatry and others with special training in the fundamentals of Mindfullness program are often included in the treatment team.

Requirements:

• A referral from the primary care provider or specialist is required.
• A patient must have a dedicated primary care provider willing to follow him/her after discharge from the Pain Management Clinic.
• Our program provides specialized care for individuals 18 years of age or older.

In order to be accepted into the Pain Management Program we require the following:

1. A referral/consultation request must be made by a primary care provider/doctor, along with any applicable imaging or reports.
2. The patient must complete a pain questionnaire and consent to release personal health information form.

Please print a copy of our Pain Management Clinic Referral Package forms.

• Pain Management Clinic Consultation Checklist
• Consultation Request
• Pain Clinic Questionnaire
• Consent for Release of Personal Health Information
• Pain Clinic Information Sheet
• This includes: Pain Clinic Checklist, Consultation Request

1. Print and complete the Pain Questionnaire and provide a completed copy to the referring primary care provider.
2. Please provide the Checklist and the Consultation Request form to the referring primary care provider and fax these forms along with the completed Pain Questionnaire to 705-495-7983.
3. We will call you, the patient, directly to set up an appointment. Please note current wait times are 2 weeks up to 8 months depending on the type of problem.
4. Print the Patient Information sheet (still to come) and review for further instructions.
5. If you are not accepted to the program we will notify your referring primary care provider.

It is very important that any consultation come with:

• Complete medication list, including Coumadin, Plavix, ASA, opioids
• All relevant notes, consults from other physicians including surgical reports
• All pertinent images (CT, MRI, Bone Scan)

NOTE: If after review of the documents provided we feel that our program has nothing to offer you, given previous treatment, or if we do not have the appropriate resources to help you with your pain, we may decline to see you. Our resources are limited and demand is high and as such we only see patients who we feel we may be able to help.

Our anesthesiologist provides interventional diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for specific pain conditions, including:

• Thoracic and lumbar back pain due to herniated discs, spinal stenosis, facet osteoarthritis or strain
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
• Neuropathic pain (e.g. central, post-operative incisional, illioinguinal, diabetic neuropathy)
• Migraine or tension headache

We offer the following interventional services, (using fluoroscopic guidance when indicated):

• Epidural steroid injections
• Facet joint blocks
• Sacroiliac joint injections
• Stellate ganglion blocks
• Lidocaine/Ketamine infusions
• Caudal blocks
• IV blocks (Biers blocks)
• Occipital nerve blocks
• Trigger point injections
• Ilioinguinal nerve blocks
• Intercostal nerve blocks