Essential pain management

What is the Essential Pain Management program?

In developing countries, pain is often poorly assessed and treated due to lack of staff, inadequate knowledge and the scarcity or absence of analgesic drugs.

The Essential Pain Management (EPM) course has been developed to improve pain management worldwide by working with health workers at a local level.

It is a cost-effective, multi-disciplinary program, which encourages early handover of teaching to local instructors. It aims to improve knowledge of pain, to provide a simple framework for managing pain and to explore ways of overcoming local barriers.

Why is there a need for an Essential Pain Management program?

There is a need for an Essential Pain Management (EPM) course because:

• Pain is often poorly treated.
  
• Improving knowledge and attitudes can lead to improved pain management.
• Simple and inexpensive treatments can make a big difference.

History of the Essential Pain Management program

A donation of $20,000 from the trustees of the Ronald Geoffrey Arnott Foundation helped to fund the establishment of the EPM course, under the guidance of Dr Roger Goucke, a former dean of the Faculty of Pain Medicine. ANZCA has provided funding for ongoing course delivery and development.

Dr Goucke and Dr Wayne Morriss ran a pilot program in Papua New Guinea in April 2010, assisted by local anaesthetists Dr Gertrude Marun and Dr Harry Aigeeleng.

In November, Dr Goucke and Dr Max Sarma offered the course in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Dr Goucke has since run courses in Port Moresby and Alotau, with local instructors. The course has also been run in Mongolia with components being taught in Rwanda, using funding from a variety of sources.

In 2011, the Global Year Against Acute Pain, the course is developing well. A “teach the teacher” workshop has been developed to train local instructors and courses are planned for Fiji, Vanuatu, PNG, the Solomon Islands, Mongolia and Tanzania.

About the Essential Pain Management program

There are two parts to the EPM program – the EPM Workshop and the EPM Instructor Workshop. Manuals and slides have been developed for both workshops.

The EPM Workshop is a one-day program of interactive lectures and group discussions. The workshop teaches a system for recognising, assessing and treating pain (RAT) and addresses pain management barriers.

The EPM Instructor Workshop is a half-day program designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to become EPM instructors. Early handover of teaching to local instructors is very important because it encourages cooperation between local health workers, and because local instructors are more likely to understand specific local problems.

To see the workshop manual, click here.

To see the workshop slides, click here.

Essential Pain Management by Wayne Morriss and Roger Goucke, manual and slides, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial. The rat illustration was provided by Timothy Pack.

3.0 Unported License.

Who can attend?

The EPM program is designed for any health worker who comes in contact with patients who have pain. It is aimed at “grass roots” workers and complements other higher level initiatives to improve pain management, for example, improving supply of morphine and other analgesics.

Participants may include doctors, nurses, clinic workers, pharmacists and other health workers. For some, the information in the EPM Workshop will be new. For others, the course will provide revision and a framework for teaching others. The workshop is also suitable for trainee doctors and nurses.

What is the next step?

EPM is a cost-effective way of improving management of pain of all types (acute or chronic, cancer or non-cancer).

If you are interested in running EPM at your hospital or for further information about the program, please contact Paul Cargill, Policy Officer, Community Development ANZCA, on +61 3 9510 6299 or overseasaid@anzca.edu.au

For further information about ANZCA's overseas aid activities please click here.