Dr Malcolm Hogg
Head of Pain Services, Melbourne Health, Clinical Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
Managing chronic pain: individual and societal implications
The well-publicised “opioid crisis” in western democracies, notably northern America and Australia, reflects consumer demand for better pain management and relative dysfunction in the health systems. In formulating a response, governments run the risk of targeting those requiring and using opioid medications safely without properly addressing the underlying issues contributing to the problem. Dr Hogg will explore the modern understanding of pain, optimal management approaches and the implications for the health system and society in general. Dr Hogg’s insights into the design and implementation of Safescript, the Victorian government’s initiated medication monitoring system will be of interest to consumers and health care providers alike.
A/Prof Hogg supervises a co-ordinated range of services, linking in hospital acute and interventional pain management with outpatient multidisciplinary services.Therapies offered include interventional procedures for cancer and non-cancer pain and allied health-based pain management programs. His research interests include early identification and management of people with acute pain at risk of developing chronic disabling pain.
A/Prof Hogg is a current board member of Pain Australia and was a Past-President of the Australian Pain Society. He is coordinating the Waiting in Pain project, a systematic investigation into the provision of persistent pain services in Australia.
A/Prof Hogg spent his early post-graduate years at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, including the bulk of his anaesthesia training. His overseas experience was gained at Mayo Clinic in USA, prior to 5 years at the Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospitals, for specialist experience in pain medicine. Upon returning to Victoria, he has developed a specialist pain medicine practice based at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, with roles in student and specialist education, policy development and supporting outer-urban and rural services. A small private practice is developing to complement these roles which includes collaborations with like-minded pain clinicians and providing complimentary services to surgical and anaesthesia colleagues.