Chronic pain has reached epidemic proportions in the past decade, with an estimated 80 million current chronic pain sufferers in the US. There has been concomitant exponential growth in the use of prescription opioids for chronic pain. A significant proportion of...
A landmark study by Rowland, Schumann, and Hickner (2010) found that earlier initiation of palliative care leads to better outcomes for patients with aggressive non-small cell lung cancer. The oncology patients who received earlier palliation, defined as palliation...