BACKGROUND: Although unrelieved pain continues to represent a significant problem, prelicensure educational programs tend to include little content related to pain. Standards for professional competence strongly influence curricula and have the potential to ensure that health science students have the knowledge and skill to manage pain in a way that also allows them to meet professional ethical standards. OBJECTIVES: To perform a systematic, comprehensive examination to determine the entry-to-practice competencies related to pain required for Canadian health science and veterinary students, and to examine how the presence and absence of pain competencies relate to key competencies of an ethical nature. METHODS: Entry-to-practice competency requirements related to pain knowledge, skill and judgment were surveyed from national, provincial and territorial documents for dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology and veterinary medicine. RESULTS: Dentistry included two and nursing included nine specific pain competencies. No references to competencies related to pain were found in the remaining health science documents. In contrast, the national competency requirements for veterinary medicine, surveyed as a comparison, included nine pain competencies. All documents included competencies pertaining to ethics. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of competencies related to pain has implications for advancing skillful and ethical practice. The lack of attention to pain competencies limits the capacity of health care professionals to alleviate suffering, foster autonomy and use resources justly. Influencing professional bodies to increase the number of required entry-to-practice pain competencies may ultimately have the greatest impact on education and practice.
BACKGROUND: Although unrelieved pain continues to represent a significant problem, prelicensure educational programs tend to include little content related to pain. Standards for professional competence strongly influence curricula and have the potential to ensure that health science students have the knowledge and skill to manage pain in a way that also allows them to meet professional ethical standards. OBJECTIVES: To perform a systematic, comprehensive examination to determine the entry-to-practice competencies related to pain required for Canadian health science and veterinary students, and to examine how the presence and absence of pain competencies relate to key competencies of an ethical nature. METHODS: Entry-to-practice competency requirements related to pain knowledge, skill and judgment were surveyed from national, provincial and territorial documents for dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology and veterinary medicine. RESULTS: Dentistry included two and nursing included nine specific pain competencies. No references to competencies related to pain were found in the remaining health science documents. In contrast, the national competency requirements for veterinary medicine, surveyed as a comparison, included nine pain competencies. All documents included competencies pertaining to ethics. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of competencies related to pain has implications for advancing skillful and ethical practice. The lack of attention to pain competencies limits the capacity of health care professionals to alleviate suffering, foster autonomy and use resources justly. Influencing professional bodies to increase the number of required entry-to-practice pain competencies may ultimately have the greatest impact on education and practice.
Authors: Thomas Hadjistavropoulos; Gregory P Marchildon; Perry G Fine; Keela Herr; Howard A Palley; Sharon Kaasalainen; François Béland Journal: Pain Med Date: 2009-02-25 Impact factor: 3.750
Authors: D C Malloy; J Williams; T Hadjistavropoulos; B Krishnan; M Jeyaraj; E F McCarthy; M Murakami; S Paholpak; J Mafukidze; B Hillis Journal: J Med Ethics Date: 2008-04 Impact factor: 2.903
Authors: Manon Choinière; Dominique Dion; Philip Peng; Robert Banner; Pamela M Barton; Aline Boulanger; Alexander J Clark; Allan S Gordon; Denise N Guerriere; Marie-Claude Guertin; Howard M Intrater; Sandra M Lefort; Mary E Lynch; Dwight E Moulin; May Ong-Lam; Mélanie Racine; Saifee Rashiq; Yoram Shir; Paul Taenzer; Mark Ware Journal: Can J Anaesth Date: 2010-06 Impact factor: 5.063
Authors: J Watt-Watson; M McGillion; J Hunter; M Choiniere; A J Clark; A Dewar; C Johnston; M Lynch; P Morley-Forster; D Moulin; N Thie; C L von Baeyer; K Webber Journal: Pain Res Manag Date: 2009 Nov-Dec Impact factor: 3.037
Authors: Judy Watt-Watson; Judi Hunter; Peter Pennefather; Larry Librach; Lalitha Raman-Wilms; Martin Schreiber; Leila Lax; Jennifer Stinson; Thuan Dao; Allan Gordon; David Mock; Michael Salter Journal: Pain Date: 2004-07 Impact factor: 6.961
Authors: Sharon Kaasalainen; Esther Coker; Lisa Dolovich; Alexandra Papaioannou; Thomas Hadjistavropoulos; Anna Emili; Jenny Ploeg Journal: West J Nurs Res Date: 2007-06-04 Impact factor: 1.967
Authors: Denise Paneduro; Leah R Pink; Andrew J Smith; Anita Chakraborty; Albert J Kirshen; David Backstein; Nicole N Woods; Allan S Gordon Journal: Pain Res Manag Date: 2014-05-21 Impact factor: 3.037