Primary care physicians confront issues regarding pain in almost 80% of office visits. Pain has been described as ''timeless, ineluctable, and disconcertingly indefinable.'' The expression may be influenced by psychosocial, cultural, and other factors. It is one of the ''thorniest problems'' a physician can face. Should you refill the percocet which the patient has been taking? Prescribing opioids has been described as ''the most dangerous thing a physician can do.'' Is the chronic neck pain your patient has a result of the car accident, due to pre-existing problems, or simply an attempt to extort money from the insurance company? Are the bulging discs on the MRI scan an objective marker of the patient's pain or are they just a normal part of aging? How do you measure pain objectively? Unlike ER work where a serum troponin has 99% sensitivity and 99% specificity, the assessment of pain is based on tests with limited sensitivity and specificity. The so called 5th vital sign is not a sign but a symptom. One physician may opine that a patient has nothing wrong with them and is fit to return to work immediately. This course will discuss how pain is diagnosed and managed. The participant will be provided all the forms necessary to run a pain practice and learn how to write quality reports. Extensive materials including addition lectures on DVD will be provided to the paticipants. www.npinstitute.com or 800-462-2492