An Interprofessional Consensus of Core Competencies for Prelicensure Education in Pain Management: Curriculum Application for Nursing

Abstract

Background Ineffective assessment and management of pain is a significant problem. A gap in prelicensure health science program pain content has been identified for the improvement of pain care in the United States. Method Through consensus processes, an expert panel of nurses, who participated in the interdisciplinary development of core competencies in pain management for prelicensure health professional education, developed recommendations to address the gap in nursing curricula. Results Challenges and incentives for implementation of pain competencies in nursing education are discussed, and specific recommendations for how to incorporate the competencies into entry-level nursing curricula are provided. Conclusion Embedding pain management core competencies into prelicensure nursing education is crucial to ensure that nurses have the essential knowledge and skills to effectively manage pain and to serve as a foundation on which clinical practice skills can be later honed.

Knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of the Quebec population toward chronic pain: Where are we now?

“…Research about determinants of knowledge gaps and negative attitudes toward people suffering from CP is also lacking. In recent years, many CP awareness and educational initiatives have been developed and implemented in Canada, [44][45][46][47][48] but it is time to take stock of where we are.…”

Healthcare Providers’ Knowledge and Current Practice of Pain Assessment and Management: How Much Progress Have We Made?

“…Pain management is complex and multifactorial; thus a deeper understanding of the barriers for proper and optimum pain management needs to be addressed in order to remedy the deficiencies among HCPs and improve patient care. Education and training of HCPs is an important intervention that improves their skills which reflects positively on the patients [31–34]. …”

Revisiting the Pain Resource Nurse Role in Sustaining Evidence‐Based Practice Changes for Pain Assessment and Management

“…However, survey findings highlighted potential knowledge gaps to explore and further address PRN educational needs regarding the administration of postoperative analgesia, and monitoring of patients for opioid side effects. This knowledge gap is not a unique issue (Al‐Shaer, Hill, & Anderson, ; Latina et al., ) and could be reflective of increased nurse turnover, limited years of PRN experience, as well as insufficient pain knowledge and skills associated with some newly graduated nurses (Chow & Chan, ; Herr et al., ). In addition, concerns were raised about some of the survey items and a perceived lack of relevance to local practice, indicating a need to identify a more locally relevant instrument for future evaluations.…”