Large national study examines the effectiveness of acupuncture in pain management in emergency departments

Large national study examines the effectiveness of acupuncture in pain management in emergency departments

University clinic receives millions in funding to study acupuncture for pain

University Hospitals Connor Integrative Health Network and Case Western Reserve University recently received a grant of more than $2 million from the National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health. The aim of the funding is to investigate the use of acupuncture in emergency rooms to treat pain and, ideally, to reduce the prescription of opioid medications.

The study is being led by Dr. Jeffery Dusek, director of research at the UH Connor Integrative Health Network, and Dr. M. Diane McKee, chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center. The project is being conducted at three academic medical centers in the US: UH Cleveland Medical Center, Vanderbilt University and the University of California San Diego.

The research leverages the BraveNet Practice Based Research Network, a leading group of 15 integrative medicine clinics across the country. Dr. McKee is the Director of the Coordinating Center for BraveNet and has worked closely with Dr. Dusek worked together.

Dr. Dusek already has extensive experience researching acupuncture for pain management. He has already conducted studies, including a study on the effect of complementary and alternative medicine on pain in inpatients. Dr. McKee recently completed a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)-funded study comparing individual and group acupuncture in primary care for chronic musculoskeletal pain.

As part of the study, a total of 150 subjects (50 at each of the three sites) will be randomized to receive either acupuncture or usual treatment. Additionally, ED patients and providers at each site will participate in structured interviews to support the implementation of a large-scale, multi-site randomized trial in the future.

According to published studies, pain accounts for up to 78 percent of emergency room visits in the United States. University Hospitals is committed to exploring alternative treatments for pain to address the opioid epidemic affecting our communities. Positive results from this study and a future large-scale study may provide important evidence to support the integration of acupuncture in emergency departments across the country. Such an expansion could provide Americans with additional non-pharmacologic methods for effective pain management and, ideally, reduce patients' use of opioids.

Source: University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center