Dr. Kieran Slevin: How Trauma-Informed Techniques Could Improve Pain Management

Dr. Kieran Slevin co-founded North American Spine and Pain in 2014. North American Spine and Pain, headquartered in Hainesport, New Jersey, is now the tri-state area's leading spine and pain care provider. Pennsylvania School of Medicine graduate Dr. Slevin is a board-certified pain medicine physician and a longstanding member of the prestigious Pennsylvania Medical Society.

The expert physician and his North American Spine and Pain team specialize in pain management, clinical decision-making support, and treatment algorithm development. He is also the Spine Intervention Society's appointed American Medical Association delegate.

Read on for a closer look at how trauma-informed techniques could improve pain management today and in the future, courtesy of the North American Spine and Pain CEO.

Transforming the Pain Management Landscape

Trauma-informed care techniques are transforming the pain management landscape in 2024, Dr. Kieran Slevin reports. However, many healthcare professionals still lack the necessary training and education on trauma-informed techniques and principles to benefit and best inform their patients. Moreover, they're missing all-important opportunities to improve practice patterns and policies.

That's despite the medical profession now boasting a better-than-ever understanding of trauma's impact on the body's nervous, immune, and other systems. Dr. Slevin says that, at its core, understanding and appreciating trauma's impact on the body's nervous and other systems is about simultaneously acknowledging and taking on board the therapeutic context of healing.

It's increasingly apparent in the treatment of chronic and long-term pain. With that, physicians and other healthcare practitioners positioned to implement trauma-informed care principles from the outset can potentially limit or even eliminate so-called vicarious trauma.

The result is increased patient activation, among an ever-growing list of other benefits. This increased patient activation results from trust-building and an improved sense of value among patients, particularly those with persistent pain conditions.

Addressing Limited Access to Mental Health Services

Much of the United States struggles with limited access to vital mental health services. Restricted access to mental health support is of the utmost concern surrounding those struggling with chronic or otherwise long-term pain. Those with persistent pain all too often carry deep emotional burdens, according to Dr. Kieran Slevin.

Again, all too frequently, these individuals find themselves under the care of healthcare providers with limited mental health service provisions at their disposal. As a result, non-mental healthcare-focused practitioners routinely become de facto mental health providers. Unfortunately, this may expose patients who are already suffering from chronic pain to additional vicarious trauma.

Experts, including Dr. Slevin, now believe that trauma-informed techniques could be central to improving pain management issues where underlying mental health matters are also a concern. That's because trauma-informed pain care and mental health services provide therapeutic environments for patients while also respecting and addressing other issues likely pivotal to their successful treatment and ongoing care.

Pain Care Through a Trauma-Informed Lens

Pain care from a trauma-informed perspective addresses everything from trust to problem-solving and self-determination. For physicians and their patients to benefit the most from such approaches, both parties must recognize the true impact of trauma on underlying pain experiences. Physicians can then, in turn, respond by integrating trauma-informed techniques into their practices.

Doing so can mitigate much of the potential for additional traumatization. However, according to Dr. Slevin, whether within pain management or elsewhere, such approaches require healthcare practitioners to first view matters across the board through what the expert calls a trauma-informed lens.

Doing so allows healthcare practitioners to understand patients' past experiences in detail and how their current experiences are likely to impact their future health outlooks, pain-related or otherwise. Crucially, doctors and other healthcare providers must implement all trauma-informed techniques on a strictly case-by-case basis to ensure the best outcomes versus using a one-size-fits-all approach.

North American Spine and Pain CEO Dr. Kieran Slevin

Dr. Kieran Slevin is an Irish-born, Pennsylvania-based physician and interventional spine specialist. Dr. Slevin is board-certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine. He is a member of the prestigious American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Pennsylvania Medical Society.

Elsewhere, Dr. Slevin is the Spine Intervention Society's appointed American Medical Association delegate. The physician and interventional spine expert specializes in pain management, clinical decision support, and treatment algorithm development.

University College Dublin and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine graduate Dr. Kieran Slevin co-founded North American Spine and Pain in 2014. Headquartered in Hainesport, New Jersey, the organization is now the leading tri-state area spine and pain care provider.

Want to learn more? Visit Dr. Slevin and the North American Spine and Pain team today!

Dr. Kieran Slevin