Pain Clinic

Overview

The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic serves the needs of adult patients in the Ottawa Champlain LHIN (Local Health Integration Network) suffering with chronic pain

Chronic pain is defined as “pain lasting longer than three months OR pain persisting beyond the reasonable amount of time for an injury to heal”.

Our Services

The Pain Clinic offers consultative services for the diagnosis and management of chronic pain disorders of malignant and nonmalignant sources. The clinic offers patients and referring physicians suggestions regarding pharmacological management of various chronic pain conditions, recommendations regarding physical therapy, occupational therapy and, when indicated, referral to other health-care professionals in Rehabilitation Medicine, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Surgical Subspecialties, Interventional Radiology, Psychology and Psychiatry.

We strive to improve patients’ quality of life by decreasing pain and improving their functional ability. After optimization of a patient’s pain and functional ability has been achieved, the patient long term care will be returned to their Family physician.

When indicated patients may be offered interventional pain procedures to aid in diagnosis or help with symptom management / rehabilitation from multiple chronic pain conditions.

Pain Management Services at TOH

• Chronic Pain Management Program at the Rehabilitation Centre.
• Complex Cancer Pain Clinic.

Stress Reduction Program For Patients With Chronic Pain

Even the most expertly delivered pharmacologic and interventional treatments rarely relieve more than 50% of the discomfort in patients with chronic non-cancer pain. These patients must satisfy all the demands of daily living while their physical and mental performance is disrupted by pain. Dr. Howard Nathan, pain physician at the TOH pain clinic, in collaboration with Dr. Katalin Nathan, clinical psychologist, offers instruction in techniques to improve well-being and quality of life while encouraging learning, self-discovery, and the development of strategies for self-care.  The nine-week group workshop combines cognitive psychotherapy with body awareness training, mindfulness meditation, and gentle yoga.  This program, mindfulness based stress reduction, developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, is evidence based and currently offered at university hospitals and private clinics worldwide.  Patients can be referred to Dr. Howard Nathan at the TOH pain clinic or directed to www.mindfulhealthprofessionals.com.

For a list of Pain Clinics across Canada, please see the Canadian Pain Society website www.canadianpainsociety.ca.

Our Team

Our team is composed of Anesthesiologists, Nurses, Clerical staff and Radiology technicians.

Making an Appointment

Any licensed physician can refer a patient to the Pain Clinic for assessment. The referral forms help us to determine the suitability and priority of the consult.

Completed referral forms can be sent via fax – 613-739-6296 or mail to the following address:

Pain Clinic
The Ottawa Hospital – General Campus
501 Smyth Rd
Ottawa ON K1H 8L6

If the consult is accepted, the clinic will contact the patient for additional information.

We request that that all patients scheduled for a consultation bring a full current list of all medications, previous medications (dosing included) used in the treatment of their pain and a copy of their most recent imaging studies (CT Scan / MRI, X-Ray films etc, if not done at TOH).

Contact Us

Physician Referral Needed
Mon. – Fri. 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
www.anesthesia.org/pain

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Last updated on: August 16th, 2017