The Importance of Pain/Addiction Treatment Education

From the AAPM 36th Annual Meeting Scientific Poster Abstracts: 205. Coauthored by Senior PAINWeek Faculty Dr. Kevin Zacharoff.

Many physicians report inadequate training in the areas of pain assessment, treatment, and aberrant drug-related behaviors. This presentation will describe the development and evaluation of a pilot course for advanced medical students on these topics. Comprehensive course development included

both faculty and senior medical student input. Faculty had experience in a variety of related disciplines including Addiction Psychiatry, Psychology, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, and Pharmacology. The intention was to develop an elective course devoted to helping students understand the value and importance of a team-based approach, along with utilization of modalities such as a biopsychosocial approach to pain management along with specific social contexts of pain and addiction. Course length was 32 hours over a four-week period, with each week consisting of two 3-hour didactic sessions and one 2-hour session of interactive clinical case-related content that was student facilitated. Five students have completed the course, and it is anticipated that more will enroll for the fall and spring classes. Qualitative student feedback will also be available for analysis. Preliminary results showed improvement in student knowledge about pain assessment and treatment.

 

Read the abstract.

Other Categories:

• opioids

• pain policy