AN EARLY REFERRAL, I.E. WITHIN THREE TO SIX MONTHS OF A CHRONIC PAIN DIAGNOSIS, IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR OPTIMUM INTERVENTION OUTCOME

General Admission Criteria

• The patient will be referred by his or her family physican or third party payer.
• Referrals for patients involved in legal proceedings and litigation will be considered on a case by case basis.
• Upon referral, the patient’s medical history will be reviewed by a designated Pain Centre physician. Based upon this review, the patient will or will not be accepted into The Pain Centre
• Referrals will be considered on a chronological basis
• The patient will be medically stable
• The patient will be committed to participating in a pain management program and will actively apply learned strategies in his or her daily life
• A patient with mental illness or cognitive disturbances not interfering with his or her ability to learn new information will be considered on a case-by-case basis
• A patient using opioids will be considered on an individual basis
• Refer to the Inpatient and Day Programs for more specific program admission criteria

General Exclusion Criteria

• A patient displaying inappropriate aggressive behaviour will be advised to seek relevant counseling and will not be admitted to any program
• A patient using recreational drugs or misusing alcohol will be considered after appropriate drug and alcohol treatment
• A patient considered suicidal will be excluded until deemed stable by the assessment team