Though rare at one point. Clinical pain pharmacists (CPP) are becoming more common place; some pharmacist can even take extra schooling specifically to go into pain pharmacy. With this specialization becoming more popular, the increase risk of burnout also comes hand-in-hand. Why would this specialty cause so much burnout?
Opiates might not be appropriate for some chronic pain patients and will need to be stopped (tapered off). This process is very difficult and time consuming. A CPP main goal is to help patient through this very difficult time. When patients have an increase in pain during a taper, they might take out of their frustration towards the CPP.
Chronic pain is very difficult condition for most providers to talk about, and more so to try and treat. It should be treated by many different methods, not just medications. Some patients put too much focus on medications versus the other methods. This also puts a lot of focus and pressure for a CPP to come up with a solution by using only medications alone, which is not possible.
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