New Pain Service Makes Great Strides

Chin-Lin Ching, M.D.
Director Palliative Care Division, HH

Rajbala Thakur, M.D.
Director Cancer Pain Services, URMC

Many patients are benefitting from Highland’s new inpatient pain management consultation service.  Dr. Chin-Lin Ching, Director, Palliative Care Division at Highland and Dr. Rajbala Thakur, Director of Cancer Pain Services at URMC and Palliative Care Consultant, and their departments are working in collaboration to offer the service which is expanding advanced medication and procedural options to relieve pain. “Physicians and APPs from all subspecialties of surgery and medicine are utilizing the service for their patients with complex pain,” said Dr. Ching who gives examples with several success stories.

• A young sickle cell patient was admitted with pain associated with right hip AVN, which made it difficult to walk. Dr. Thakur performed PENG blocks on the hip during two separate admissions and she was able to walk and be discharged the next day without escalation in her opioids. Highland sickle cell patients usually stay for weeks/months.
• A patient who is a paraplegic was admitted with pain from bilateral rotator cuff injuries from having to push/lift himself in and out of his wheelchair. Dr. Pawar performed bilateral suprascapular nerve blocks and he was able to raise his arms above his head and was discharged home instead of having to go to rehab.

The chart below illustrates the service utilization:

“We remain truly thankful to our Anesthesia colleagues at SMH for this ongoing collaboration,” said Dr. Ching.

2/13/2024