Cancer Pain Education

Abstract

The Structured Clinical Instruction Module (SCIM) is an educational format developed for the teaching of clinical and interpersonal skills. The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot-test a SCIM to enhance medical students' learning and understanding about cancer pain assessment and management. The Cancer Pain SCIM was presented to 34 third-year medical students. Eight instructors and six standardized patients (five cancer patients) participated in the course. All participants evaluated the course using a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). Students self-assessed their clinical skills before and after the course using a five-point scale (1 = not competent; 5 = very competent). Students agreed [mean (S.D.)] very strongly that the SCIM was a valuable educational experience [4.4 (0.56)] and that it was beneficial to use actual cancer patients in the SCIM [4.5 (0.63)]. Students believed their skills in the assessment and management of cancer pain significantly improved after the course. The SCIM is a valuable and novel instructional format to teach essential skills in the assessment and management of cancer pain to medical students.

Exploring assessment of medical students' competencies in pain medicine—A review

“…One study was published in German. Twenty-two studies (54%) were from North America (United States 44% 9,24,25,34,55,60,71,80,85,92,99,107–110,127,128,132 ; Canada 10% 63,90,114,125 ); 12 (29%) from Europe 3,6,12,46,56,69,73,84,87,94,95,101 ; 3 (7%) from Australia; 18,118,120 and 1 each from Saudi Arabia, 68 Philippines, 76 Thailand, 88 and Taiwan. 50…”

“…The purpose of the assessments as described in the articles reviewed is outlined in Table 1. More than half of the studies (56%) assessed medical students who were exposed to a specific pain medicine module within the medical curriculum, such as a comprehensive pain medicine course (20%), 12,34,46,63,85,110,125,132 cancer pain module (15%), 50,71,76,88,92,108 paediatric pain course (5%), 9,24 acute pain module (5%), 55,99 or low-back pain module (5%). 56,127 Four studies (10%) described an instrument that was used for assessment of interprofessional pain education.…”

“…New instruments were designed in 78% (n = 32) of studies. 6,9,12,24,25,34,46,55,56,60,63,68,71,73,80,85,87,88,90,92,94,95,99,101,109,110,114,118,120,125,127,132…”

“…Six studies described medical students' self-assessment of pain knowledge competencies and confidence in their clinical capabilities. 9,46,56,76,92,99 Students rated their competencies with an agreement or disagreement response option towards a given statement, using a 4- or 5-item Likert response format.…”

“…Information on the psychometric properties of instruments used was not provided in 13 studies (32%). 9,12,24,46,85,88,90,92,94,95,120,128,132…”