Many studies have suggested that millions of Americans may be suffering needlessly because doctors routinely ignore or undertreat their pain. This week, new national standards go into effect that require doctors to make more of an effort to relieve patients' pain.

More than 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, according to the American Pain Foundation. And thus far, managing pain has not been a high enough priority for many doctors and medical institutions.

But a new set of national standards aims to change that. Starting this week, health-care centers around the country are required to begin screening every patient for their pain levels, and have them measured and recorded. Patients may be asked to rank their pain intensity on a scale of zero to 10, with zero meaning no pain, and 10 meaning unbearable pain. Health-care centers will then have to decide on therapies to relieve the pain, and document the results.

"Patients have the right to effective assessment and management pain, and that's the standard that all health facilities must adhere to," says June Dahl, a professor at the University of Wisconsin medical school who helped write the new standards.

Proper Treatment of Pain Important

Until now, there have been no national standards for the management of pain. Studies of cancer patients have suggested that about 40 percent receive inadequate pain medication. Often, they're given nothing more than aspirin or Tylenol. And among the post-surgery patients, studies have suggested about 50 percent receive inadequate pain relief.

Proper treatment of pain is important not only because it allows patients to feel better, but also because it may help speed their recovery. After surgery, patients with less pain are able to breathe more deeply, walk more easily, and leave the hospital more quickly.

The new standards, which were issued by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations require that hospitals and nursing homes ensure their staff knows how to treat pain effectively, and also asks that patients and their families know how to manage it. Thus far, many health-care centers are still scrambling to implement the standards. Those that do not risk losing their accreditation as well as their federal funds from Medicare and Medicaid.

"No health-care professional can promise a patient that he or she won't feel any pain," says Dr. Russell Portenoy of the Beth-Israel Medical Center in New York. "But we can promise a patient's pain will be take seriously, it will be assessed, and it will be managed in a state-of-the-art way."

Various Options Available

In some cases, that might mean using more powerful medications like morphine and codeine. If patients have no history of substance abuse, studies show there's virtually no risk of addiction. There are also plenty of non-traditional pain therapies, including acupuncture, meditation, physical therapy, and massage.

"[There are] various techniques that one can apply to a specific pain problem," says Dahl. "The important thing is to match the choice of therapy with the intensity and type of pain the patient is experiencing."

Many patients consider pain a natural, unavoidable consequence of sickness or surgery. Health-care centers are now being required to prove them wrong.

(From ABCNews)