Welcome!

Call for Elections: CPS Board Positions Open in 2020

We are seeking applications for the following Board of Directors positions:

• President-elect
• Secretary

Click HERE for more details and to apply. Deadline for applications is March 1st, 2020.

---

Registration is OPEN for our 41st ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING

19 - 22 May, 2020 | Calgary, Alberta

Early Bird Deadline

Register before April 6th to take advantage of our Early Bird pricing!

Travel Bookings

HOTEL: Take advantage of our hotel block room rate ($259/night)! To reserve your room in the CPS Room Block CLICK HERE. NOTE: Rooms must be booked before Monday, April 27, 2020 to receive the reduced rate.

AIR TRAVEL: Air Canada is offering discounted rates for our attendees. To book a flight with your promotion code, access aircanada.com and enter the code CFZA7JC1 at check-out.

---

Membership Reminder

Make sure your membership is up-to-date so you can take advantage of our MEMBER RATES! To sign up or renew your membership, please CLICK THE JOIN NOW BUTTON on the left of your screen.

---

Support our 41st Annual Scientific Meeting: May 19-22, 2020 | Calgary, Alberta

CPS wishes to work with organizations that see a direct benefit in promoting shared values of professionalism and competency-based education. CPS sees a need to advocate on behalf of patients with acute and chronic pain by bringing together basic scientists and health professionals of various disciplines who have an interest in pain research and management.

Supporting and exhibiting during our Annual Scientific Meeting will expose your organization to the professionals and scientists across the pain management field, and across the country. Supporters benefit from increasing their profile with our attendees. CLICK HERE to explore the various options CPS has to offer.

---

CPS & PAIN BC APPLAUD CANADIAN PAIN TASK FORCE REPORT CALLING FOR NATIONAL ACTION ON CHRONIC PAIN

En français

July 18, 2019 – Vancouver, BC – Pain BC and the Canadian Pain Society welcome the first report by the Canadian Pain Task Force, released to the public today by Health Canada. The report assesses the current state of chronic pain care, education and research in Canada and highlights the profound impact of chronic pain on Canadians. It notes the disparities in health care available to people with pain across the country and calls for policy coordination and resources to address existing gaps and inequities, and to improve care for all Canadians with pain.

Highlights of the report include:

• There is a global consensus that chronic pain is a significant chronic disease in its own right and as such, needs concerted attention. This is not reflected in the current state in Canada.
• Care for chronic pain is largely dependent on where people live and what type of insurance coverage they have.
• People living with chronic pain need better access to a range of treatment services beyond medication, including psychological support, physical therapies, integrated healthcare services, and others.
• There is a clear deficit in education of health professionals in the causes, types, underlying mechanisms, and effects of pain, as well as how best to treat it.
• Efforts to reduce the number of opioid-related overdose deaths in Canada have had significant consequences on chronic pain patients, including increased stigma and reduced access to treatment. For some patients, it has also resulted in inappropriate prescribing practices such as abrupt stoppage of opioids or tapering without consideration of the risks associated with withdrawal or the medical needs of patients.
• Data and evidence need to be improved to make more informed decisions on individual treatment, health system change, and policy.

READ MORE

---

2020 CPS ASM Keynote Speakers Announced! 

We are delighted to announce the following Keynote Speakers for our 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting: 

• Dr. David Bennett, Mary Ellen Jeans Lecture Keynote
• Dr. Sarah E. Ross, Plenary Keynote
• Dr. Sean Mackey, Plenary Keynote

CPS 41st Annual Scientific Meeting: May 19 - 22, 2020, Calgary, Alberta

 

---

Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announces the establishment of the Canadian Pain Task Force

The Task Force will provide insight on how to better prevent, treat and manage chronic pain

TORONTO, April 3, 2019 /CNW/ - Approximately one in five Canadians currently experiences chronic pain. Chronic pain has significant impacts on an individual's physical and mental health, often preventing them from undertaking everyday activities.

Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, announced the establishment of the Canadian Pain Task Force at the Canadian Pain Society's 40th Annual Scientific Meeting in Toronto. The Canadian Pain Task Force will help the Government of Canada to address the barriers that may prevent people with chronic pain from receiving the health services they need.

The Minister committed to exploring options for the creation of a national pain task force following a roundtable discussion on chronic pain with clinicians, researchers and people living with chronic pain at the 2018 Opioid Symposium in Toronto. During the discussion, members of the chronic pain community shared the long-standing challenges they face related to stigma and access to treatment. They also emphasized that the response to the opioid crisis was exacerbating these challenges, by contributing to stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours around opioid prescribing and use, and inconsistencies in access to treatment services.

The eight-member Task Force includes advocates who have lived experience with chronic pain, as well as researchers and health providers who have experience preventing and managing pain. Dr. Fiona Campbell, President of the Canadian Pain Society and Anesthesiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and Ms. Maria Hudspith, founding Executive Director of Pain BC, will co-chair the group. They will work with an independent advisory panel and will consult with stakeholders and governments across the country over the course of the next three years to:

• Assess how chronic pain is currently addressed in Canada;
• Identify best practices to prevent and manage chronic pain; and
• Disseminate their findings to facilitate the implementation of these practices across the country.

The Task Force will submit three reports to Health Canada to reflect each of these three objectives, with the first report due in June 2019.

Other federal government departments and agencies are also engaged in this work and interested in the advice and evidence that the Task Force will provide, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Indigenous Services Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada for which funding was announced in Budget 2019 to set up a Centre of Excellence on Chronic Pain Research for veterans.

The creation of this Task Force is an important step toward addressing the concerns and challenges faced by people who live with chronic pain and toward improving health outcomes for Canadians. By bringing together health providers, pain researchers, and individuals living with chronic pain and their families and caregivers, Health Canada aims to promote greater understanding and awareness of the issues related to chronic pain management in Canada.  READ MORE