Simplify pain management by calculating the Medication Quantification Scale (MQS) online / The P.A.I.N. Initiative presents the first web-based tool for the quantification of pain medication

Aachen (ots) - With the Medication Quantification Scale (MQS)
Online Calculator, the P.A.I.N. (Pain Associates' International
Network) Initiative by the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal
GmbH offers a web-based tool for the quantification of medication
used in pain populations. The MQS Calculator is the first online tool
that enables pain professionals to calculate the medical impact of
their prescribed medications.

Simplifying quantification of pain treatment

It is difficult to quantify pain treatment, because, like other
medications, analgesics differ in terms of efficacy, action and
adverse events. In addition patients often take multiple medications
differing in pharmacological class and dosage level. To simplify pain
management and to support healthcare professionals in their
therapeutic decisions the P.A.I.N. Initiative has developed the MQS
Online Calculator.

The MQS Online Calculator provides a method for quantifying pain
medication, based on defined detriment weights for each given
pharmacological class multiplied by a score of the dosage. Available
pain pharmaceuticals have been categorized and assigned to substances
from the WHO's Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System
(ATC System).

MQS online calculation - comprehensive and user-friendly

To calculate the MQS of an analgesic, healthcare professionals can
select available pharmaceuticals from a database. The database can be
individually administered.

Drugs can be looked up by specifying brand or generic names and
the MQS is calculated automatically. The calculated scores provide a
quantitative index of total medication usage suitable for statistical
analysis. The resulting prescription can be integrated into local
electronic documentation systems.

"The MQS Online Calculator improves and simplifies pain management
in daily routine" comments Dr. Bart Morlion, pain specialist and
director of the Leuven Centre for Algology & Pain Management of the
University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. "The tool has a strong added
value for professionals interested in pain, scientific pain societies
but also for healthcare policymakers and health care insurance
companies, and represents a step towards effective and economic pain
management in clinical practice."

The P.A.I.N. Initiative sponsored by Grunenthal will present the
MQS Online Calculator at this year's 4th World Congress of the World
Institute of Pain (WIP) (September 25th-28th)*.

The MQS Online Calculator can currently be tested online in a BETA
version of the software at www.pain-initiative.com.

Additionally, the MQS Calculator is implemented in P.A.I.N.
Quality, the initiative's pain management software, to facilitate
documentation of pain treatment in daily routine.

About P.A.I.N. Initiative

In 2001 Grunenthal founded an international network of pain
experts with the aim of improving pain management: The P.A.I.N.
Initiative concentrates on the implementation of practice-oriented
concepts and offers comprehensive services and useful materials to
support healthcare professionals and patients.

P.A.I.N. Initiative is composed of international expert symposia
(P.A.I.N. Workshop), the pain management software (P.A.I.N. Quality),
an interactive training format (P.A.I.N Course) and a web-based
communication platform (P.A.I.N. Online). For more information,
please refer to: www.pain-initiative.com

About Grunenthal Grunenthal is an expert in pain therapy and
gynaecology and a pioneer in intelligent, user-friendly drug delivery
technologies. Founded in 1946, the company employs 1,900 people in
Germany and 4,800 worldwide. In 2006, Grunenthal achieved revenues of
813 million Euro.

*Poster Presentation at the Sportarena Budapest. Poster Area:
P2050 "The P.A.I.N. MQS Calculator: Quantifying medication use in
practice". For further information please visit the Grunenthal booth
No. 11, 19, 20.

Literature MQS Calculation

Yihune, G. et al.: P.A.I.N. MQS Calculator: Quantifying medication
use in practice. 4th World Congress World Institute of Pain
(September 25-28, 2007, Budapest, Hungary), Poster No. 2050

Steedman, S., M. et al. (1992) Chronic-Pain Medications:
Equivalence Levels and Method of Quantifying Usage; The Clinical
Journal of Pain, 8:204-214, Raven Press

Harden, R.N. et al. (2005) Medication Quantification Scale Version
III: Update in Medication Classes and Revised Detriment Weights by
Survey of American Pain Society Physicians. The Journal of Pain; Vol.
5, No. 6, pp. 364-371

Originaltext: Grünenthal GmbH
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Contact:
Anke Krueger-Hellwig
Phone: +49 241 569-2858, Fax: +49 241 569-52858,
anke.krueger-hellwig@grunenthal.com
Grunenthal GmbH, 52099 Aachen, Germany, www.grunenthal.com