Worldwide consensus has identified pain education for health care professionals as inadequate to meet the clinical need for pain assessment and management. In the past decade, several professional organizations and academic institutions have taken this challenge and formulated curricula and training (often interprofessional) informed by the neuroscience of education and learning. As the cumulative experience among pain educators worldwide grows and evolves, a body of work has developed that systematically assesses the efficacy and real-world effectiveness of diverse approaches to pain education as a crucial stage in the translation of basic and applied knowledge into clinical practice. This proposed Research Topic will address ongoing barriers to health care professionals’ education, including competencies, and evidence-based approaches to overcoming these barriers. These efforts aimed at health care professionals are complemented by concurrent advances in patient and public education. In both public and professional contexts, systematic evaluation of pain education content and methods is essential.
Challenges facing pain educators include deciding upon and conveying the content to be transmitted, how best to impart competencies related to this content, and how to tailor general educational approaches to best meet the needs of health care professionals working with people experiencing pain. Other issues include engaging patients, families, stakeholders, and the public, including policy makers, in shared efforts to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering and optimize clinical outcomes associated with the entire spectrum of painful experiences.
We welcome the submission of manuscripts including, but not limited to, the following topics:
• Content of pain education for health care professionals and its refinement according to changes in scientific knowledge and clinical practice (foundational, profession-specific).
• Synthesis and translation of pain-related content to ensure health care providers’ clinical competencies (e.g., age-specific and/or condition-oriented assessment and treatment).
• Implementing an optimal prelicensure/ preregistration progression of longitudinally integrated learning experiences, both shared and discipline specific.
• Identifying gaps in postgraduate and continuing education for licensed health professionals.
• Examining opportunities and benefits of education at an individual patient level, as well as to advance broader advocacy for people with pain.
Worldwide consensus has identified pain education for health care professionals as inadequate to meet the clinical need for pain assessment and management. In the past decade, several professional organizations and academic institutions have taken this challenge and formulated curricula and training (often interprofessional) informed by the neuroscience of education and learning. As the cumulative experience among pain educators worldwide grows and evolves, a body of work has developed that systematically assesses the efficacy and real-world effectiveness of diverse approaches to pain education as a crucial stage in the translation of basic and applied knowledge into clinical practice. This proposed Research Topic will address ongoing barriers to health care professionals’ education, including competencies, and evidence-based approaches to overcoming these barriers. These efforts aimed at health care professionals are complemented by concurrent advances in patient and public education. In both public and professional contexts, systematic evaluation of pain education content and methods is essential.
Challenges facing pain educators include deciding upon and conveying the content to be transmitted, how best to impart competencies related to this content, and how to tailor general educational approaches to best meet the needs of health care professionals working with people experiencing pain. Other issues include engaging patients, families, stakeholders, and the public, including policy makers, in shared efforts to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering and optimize clinical outcomes associated with the entire spectrum of painful experiences.
We welcome the submission of manuscripts including, but not limited to, the following topics:
• Content of pain education for health care professionals and its refinement according to changes in scientific knowledge and clinical practice (foundational, profession-specific).
• Synthesis and translation of pain-related content to ensure health care providers’ clinical competencies (e.g., age-specific and/or condition-oriented assessment and treatment).
• Implementing an optimal prelicensure/ preregistration progression of longitudinally integrated learning experiences, both shared and discipline specific.
• Identifying gaps in postgraduate and continuing education for licensed health professionals.
• Examining opportunities and benefits of education at an individual patient level, as well as to advance broader advocacy for people with pain.