• Ira D Kornbluth, Mitchell K Freedman, Michele Y Holding, E Anthony Overton, and Michael F Saulino.
• Spine Medicine and Rehabilitation Therapies, Westminster, MD 21157, USA. doctorira@hotmail.com
• Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008 Mar 1; 89 (3 Suppl 1): S51-5.

UnlabelledThis self-directed learning module highlights the monitoring of progress and compliance in chronic pain management. It is part of the chapter on chronic pain in the Self-Directed Physiatric Education Program for practitioners in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Specifically, the first module focuses on the use of pain rating scales to monitor progress, and the second and third learning objectives focus on evaluating abuse potential and interpreting drug screens. The fourth objective discusses issues pertaining to closure of a workers' compensation complaint, including when to declare that a patient meets the requirements for the designation maximal medical improvement.Overall Article ObjectiveTo discuss monitoring of a patient's progress and compliance by describing how pain rating scales are used, what screening procedures are available to help identify patients at risk for drug abuse, and what the basis is for declaring a patient as having reached maximal medical improvement.

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