ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief summary of evidence and presents an array of options for improving the outcomes of primary care services to patients with persistent pain (PP). These will include a variety of practice tools, ranging from scripts to guide new conversations between clinicians and patients to curricula for group medical visit services. The chapter explains how pain originating in the peripheral nervous system can come to exert a strong impact on the central nervous system. It discusses new services for primary care patients with persistent pain. The chapter discusses The Healthy Brain and Body tool kit. Primary care is a fast-paced practice, and the team needs lots of compassion— for team members and for patients. The chapter concludes with few suggestions about clinician and team resilience, as this is of fundamental importance to development of the compassion needed to start and sustain new ways of working with pain.
