In This Issue

Director's Letter

Director's Letter
by Seth A. Eisen, M.D., M.Sc.

Health Services Research Must Prove Its Value Now...

Commentary

Transforming Pain Management Services for Veterans
by Robert D. Kerns, Ph.D., Pain Research, Informatics, Medical Comorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System

VA is uniquely positioned to provide leadership in the development of comprehensive registries, databases, and quality improvement efforts that can have widespread impact on pain management within and outside VA...

Response to Commentary

VA Pain Management and Research: From Good to Great
by Kurt Kroenke, M.D., VA Center of Excellence for Implementing Evidence-Based Practice, Indianapolis, Indiana

Since launching its National Pain Management Strategy in 1998, the VA has witnessed substantial strides in pain clinical care and research. The Pain Research Working Group, Pain Management Program Office, and PRIME Center have all played pivotal roles in advancing VA's pain research agenda...

Research Highlights

Improving Opioid Prescribing Practices
by Jodie A. Trafton, Ph.D. and Eleanor T. Lewis, Ph.D., both with the VA Palo Alto Center for Health Care Evaluation, Substance Use Disorder QUERI, and Office of Mental Health Operations Program Evaluation and Resource Center, Menlo Park, California

HSR&D/QUERI has supported several studies designed to inform and support VA efforts to improve the safety and effectiveness of opioid therapy for chronic pain...

Post-Deployment Pain: Musculoskeletal Conditions in Male and Female OEF/OIF Veterans
by Sally G. Haskell, M.D., Pain Research, Informatics, Medical Comorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System

The growing difference in prevalence of painful musculoskeletal conditions between women and men over time may represent a difference in the chronicity of musculoskeletal problems sustained during military service, a difference in the incidence of newly reported pain between men and women over time, or a difference in the effectiveness of treatment...

Painful Truths About Pain Screening
by Karl A Lorenz, M.D., M.S.H.S. VA Palliative Care Quality Improvement Resource Center (QuIRC), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, and Erin E. Krebs, M.D., M.P.H., Minneapolis VA Health Care System

Pain measurement is a necessary but not sufficient step to improving patients' pain. Pain measurement can be improved, especially by incorporating information about pain-related functional interference to inform individualized goals...

HSR&D and QUERI Hold National Meeting

"Transforming Veteran Healthcare through Partner-Oriented Research" was the theme of the 29th VA Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) and Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) National Meeting. Hosted by HSR&D's Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, located in Durham, N.C. the meeting was held from July 16-19, 2012 in National Harbor, Md...