Multidisciplinary pain care emphasizes the complex and dynamic interactions between the medical, psychological, cultural, and social factors that perpetuate and worsen pain and disability. Given the multifactorial nature of pain, comprehensive approaches to pain management are essential. Although opportunities to provide evidence-based, integrated, and patient-centered care exist, numerous challenges hinder equitable and timely access to multidisciplinary treatments for all. Opportunities for improved access to care may arise with increasing emphasis on care coordination, health information technology, health services delivery, reimbursement, and innovative models of pain care.
The goal of this research topic is to aggregate research articles that explore the facilitators and barriers to access to multidisciplinary pain care. Collectively, these studies will improve our understanding of how to evolve health systems towards innovative care models and highlight the need for continued research and better strategies to improve clinician education, adapt health services delivery, and direct pain policy.
We welcome the submission of manuscripts including but not limited to the following topics:
• Assessment of barriers and facilitators to high-quality multidisciplinary pain care.
• Innovative service delivery methods that integrate various pain treatment modalities including pharmacologic, physical therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral, psychological, interventional, and integrative approaches.
• Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches to optimizing the accessibility and equity of multidisciplinary pain care.
• Strategies to overcome pain care biases and disparities at the patient, provider, system, and cultural levels.
• Evaluation of policy and guideline recommendations for integrated pain care.
The articles can be original research studies, opinion pieces, reviews, short reports, or case studies.
Keywords: multidisciplinary pain management, disparities, access to pain management
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
