Mission
ACHE was created in 1990 through an initiative of the
American Headache Society® (AHS), an organization of 1,500 physicians, health professionals and research scientists. AHS physicians and the American Headache Society Committee on Headache Education (ACHE) lay members collaborate in producing educational programs and materials, coordinating the support groups, and undertaking public awareness initiatives all aimed at improving care for headache sufferers.
ACHE is a nonprofit patient-health professional partnership dedicated to advancing the treatment and management of patients with headache. ACHE serves as an educational resource for health care providers who seek patient information materials, tools, and resources to help educate and support their patients and their families who are affected by disabling headache. These educational materials also may be useful to health policy makers, employers, opinion leaders, schools, and families of headache sufferers.
Our goal is to provide resources and tools for health care providers so they can work effectively with headache patients and their families who manage a debilitating illness. These resources and tools should allow physicians to individualize patient care regarding headache management. Patients and others also may find these materials useful for their families, employers among others.
Through education on the mechanisms and treatment of headache, physicians and other health care providers can better help patients use effective therapies and be knowledgeable on how to care for themselves, reduce the impact of headache on their work and families, and improve their overall quality of life.
Overview
ACHE has worked to build public awareness about the impact of headache as a debilitating disorder that can disrupt quality of life and but also is a disorder than can be managed with effective medications and treatment strategies. Over the course of the decade, doctors, patients and their families have come to understand that migraine and other forms of headache develop because of biological, not psychological, factors.
AHS has made considerable efforts in promoting professional and community education on migraine and treatment of headache sufferers. This includes collaborative efforts among medical organizations including the American Academy of Neurology, where Headache Medicine Certification is now possible for physicians, new evidence-based treatment guidelines are available, and multiple accredited courses on migraine are available annually. Program accreditation is also being developed for fellowships specifically in headache.
Throughout this website, a wide range of educational resources are available to physicians, patients, families, schools and employers. We are continually expanding our outreach and our ability to educate those in need. Imbedded through the different web pages, there are news letters, educational resources for patients on important topics in headache, tools to assess migraine disability and impact of illness, lists of certified headache physicians, and many other useful materials.
Some of new educational initiatives highlighted in this website include discussion of major scientific advances about the mechanisms of migraine and proposed mode of action of new treatments. Future research will continue the search for even more effective agents with improved tolerability and safety and improved treatment strategies for these patients.
Most recently, the AHS and ACHE have focused attention on the needs of women with hormonally linked headache conditions. In conjunction with AHS’s Women’s Issues Group, we are currently working on the development of a special section of this web site devoted to women’s issues. Diagnosing and treating headache in children and adolescents is also an area of development and will be included in educational and research initiatives supported by AHS and the American Headache Association Committee on Headache Education.
The development of easy-to-use disability instruments such as the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS) and the Headache Impact Test (HIT) may be very useful in helping doctors recognize the impact of headache on the patient’s daily life. We hope these new tools will improve doctor-patient communication and treatment.
Click here to access the MIDAS survey, which is available for downloading.
Finally, both AHS and ACHE continue to attempt to work with managed care organizations to improve access to care and appropriate therapy.