Most medical schools fail to provide adequate training of clinicians in the treatment of pain. Similarly, despite the fact that over 1/3 of Americans suffer from chronic pain, NIH funding for pain represents only 1% of the NIH budget. 1 To address these gaps in training and funding, we argue that exposing students to pain science early in their careers, at the undergraduate level, may be an effective method to develop a pipeline for future pain scientists and clinicians. In 2015, we implemented a full-scale launch of a cross-disciplinary and community-engaged biomedical summer research program in pain. The Pain Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE) summer program involved both offsite and on-site experiences with a focus on pain research to expose undergraduate students to the range of careers in the pain field. The objective of the 10-week long PURE program was to expose undergraduate students to pain basic science, clinical practice, and the patient experience. We wanted to entice top undergraduates to consider pain as a future area of study, practice, and/or research. Outcomes to be presented include student attitudes to patient needs, interest in pain research, confidence in describing pain to both experts and laity, and understanding of basic pain terminology. (1. Bradshaw et al, Journal of Pain, 2008.) (258) Implementing evidence based pain competencies into prelicensure physical and occupational therapy curriculum
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