AACHEN, Germany, September 19 /PRNewswire/ --
-- The P.A.I.N. Initiative Presents the First Web-Based Tool for the Quantification of Pain Medication
With the Medication Quantification Scale (MQS) Online Calculator, the P.A.I.N. (Pain Associates' International Network) Initiative by the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal GmbH offers a web-based tool for the quantification of medication used in pain populations. The MQS Calculator is the first online tool that enables pain professionals to calculate the medical impact of their prescribed medications.
Simplifying quantification of pain treatment
It is difficult to quantify pain treatment, because, like other medications, analgesics differ in terms of efficacy, action and adverse events. In addition patients often take multiple medications differing in pharmacological class and dosage level. To simplify pain management and to support healthcare professionals in their therapeutic decisions the P.A.I.N. Initiative has developed the MQS Online Calculator.
The MQS Online Calculator provides a method for quantifying pain medication, based on defined detriment weights for each given pharmacological class multiplied by a score of the dosage. Available pain pharmaceuticals have been categorized and assigned to substances from the WHO's Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC System).
MQS online calculation - comprehensive and user-friendly
To calculate the MQS of an analgesic, healthcare professionals can select available pharmaceuticals from a database. The database can be individually administered.
Drugs can be looked up by specifying brand or generic names and the MQS is calculated automatically. The calculated scores provide a quantitative index of total medication usage suitable for statistical analysis. The resulting prescription can be integrated into local electronic documentation systems.
"The MQS Online Calculator improves and simplifies pain management in daily routine" comments Dr. Bart Morlion, pain specialist and director of the Leuven Centre for Algology & Pain Management of the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. "The tool has a strong added value for professionals interested in pain, scientific pain societies but also for healthcare policymakers and health care insurance companies, and represents a step towards effective and economic pain management in clinical practice."
The P.A.I.N. Initiative sponsored by Grunenthal will present the MQS Online Calculator at this year's 4th World Congress of the World Institute of Pain (WIP) (September 25th-28th)(i).
The MQS Online Calculator can currently be tested online in a BETA version of the software at http://www.pain-initiative.com.
Additionally, the MQS Calculator is implemented in P.A.I.N. Quality, the initiative's pain management software, to facilitate documentation of pain treatment in daily routine.
About P.A.I.N. Initiative
In 2001 Grunenthal founded an international network of pain experts with the aim of improving pain management: The P.A.I.N. Initiative concentrates on the implementation of practice-oriented concepts and offers comprehensive services and useful materials to support healthcare professionals and patients.
P.A.I.N. Initiative is composed of international expert symposia (P.A.I.N. Workshop), the pain management software (P.A.I.N. Quality), an interactive training format (P.A.I.N Course) and a web-based communication platform (P.A.I.N. Online). For more information, please refer to: http://www.pain-initiative.com
About Grunenthal
Grunenthal is an expert in pain therapy and gynaecology and a pioneer in intelligent, user-friendly drug delivery technologies. Founded in 1946, the company employs 1,900 people in Germany and 4,800 worldwide. In 2006, Grunenthal achieved revenues of 813 million Euro.
(i)Poster Presentation at the Sportarena Budapest. Poster Area: P2050 "The P.A.I.N. MQS Calculator: Quantifying medication use in practice". For further information please visit the Grunenthal booth No. 11, 19, 20.
Literature MQS Calculation
Yihune, G. et al.: P.A.I.N. MQS Calculator: Quantifying medication use in practice. 4th World Congress World Institute of Pain (September 25-28, 2007, Budapest, Hungary), Poster No. 2050
Steedman, S., M. et al. (1992) Chronic-Pain Medications: Equivalence Levels and Method of Quantifying Usage; The Clinical Journal of Pain, 8:204-214, Raven Press
Harden, R.N. et al. (2005) Medication Quantification Scale Version III: Update in Medication Classes and Revised Detriment Weights by Survey of American Pain Society Physicians. The Journal of Pain; Vol. 5, No. 6, pp. 364-371
Contact: Anke Krueger-Hellwig
Phone: +49-241-569-2858
Fax: +49-241-569-52858
anke.krueger-hellwig@grunenthal.com
Grunenthal GmbH, 52099 Aachen, Germany
http://www.grunenthal.com
Contact: Anke Krueger-Hellwig, Phone: +49-241-569-2858, Fax: +49-241-569-52858, anke.krueger-hellwig@grunenthal.com, Grunenthal GmbH, 52099 Aachen, Germany
