Education in pain

Abstract

The biomedical literature grows exponentially, and knowledge about molecular biology and immunology is expanding more rapidly 1. Early diagnoses, the use of effective and safe therapies with favorable results are current requirements. This means that the advances in areas related to symptoms control and clinical decisions should be incorporated into the new modes of knowledge transmission and care of patients with pain 2,3. The improvement of health education programs does not occur at the same speed in which knowledge multiplies. Many schools include descriptive themes in their curricula rather than analytical subjects and critical and logical thoughts 4. However, since the publication of the model of medical graduation based on the Flexner report of 1912 5 , the teaching of health sciences has incorporated biocentric and technocentric visions. We started to study the human body by parts. The diseases are now considered biological, cellular and molecular malfunctioning. Medical schools were organized to train students in diseases, to be specialists working in hospitals but not trained to care patients and, consequently, physicians were stimulated and trained to perform physical or chemical interventions to normalize the functioning of the body with an insufficient notion of the individual as a whole and in the society 6. Some medical and paramedical concepts and practices are kept alive and widely disseminated and performed because they are truly useful, safe and effective. However, many are still used and will remain indefinitely, even without any evidence, substrates or grounds justifying their applicability because they sustain, adapt and surreptitiously propagate themselves based on poorly elaborated concepts about their realities 7. This means that the awareness, dissemination and strategic use of good quality information can make a significant contribution so that, in future, the procedures that aim at the prevention and control of pain are used in a rational way and without the biases of traditions and interests other than the benefit of those who suffer from pain 7,8. The meaning of medicine in the society and the relationship between health professionals, health policymakers and patients undergo constant change. The content and dissemination of medical curricula also evolve to ensure consistent delivery of high-quality medical services. Therefore, having the curriculum as an institutional educational proposal with the objective of informing, executing and evaluating educational programs with an ordered sequence of contents, and making appropriate use of the media to make public the scientific achievements and the rational application of health policies can contribute to revert this trend, both for the general population and for the professionals involved in the planning, prevention and treatment of pain 9. We see progress in the areas of education, training, accreditation of professionals and care services in parallel with advances in pharmacology, rehabilitation, psychotherapy, and interventional pain ...