Integrating Cognitive and Affective Dimensions of Pain Experience into Health Professions Education

Abstract

Pain is prevalent in clinical settings, and yet it is relatively under-represented in the education of most students in the health professions. Because pain includes both sensory-discriminative and affective features, teaching students about pain presents unique challenges and opportunities. The present article describes the evolution of a new blueprint for clinical excellence that, among other competencies, incorporates a need for the emotional development of clinical trainees. The framework has been applied to the development and implementation of two new courses in pain. The first course is designed to provide a comprehensive foundation of medical knowledge regarding pain, while integratively introducing students to the affective dimensions of pain. The second course is designed to enhance students' appreciation for the protean effects of pain through use of the humanities to represent medical experience. It is concluded that, to be most effective, fostering the emotional development of trainees in the health professions necessitates the incorporation of affect-focused learning objectives, educational tasks, and assessment methods.

Agreement between veterinary students and anesthesiologists regarding postoperative pain assessment in dogs

“…; Murinson et al. ; Keefe & Wharrad ). Only a few studies have investigated this topic in veterinary medicine (Turnwald et al.…”

“…The need for training in pain assessment is well documented in human medicine (Yanni et al 2009;Murinson et al 2011;Keefe & Wharrad 2012). Only a few studies have investigated this topic in veterinary medicine (Turnwald et al 2008;Kerr et al 2013).…”

Pain Psychology: A Global Needs Assessment and National Call to Action

“…Such curricula could bolster basic proficiency in key domains, thereby facilitating patient acquisition of the knowledge and evidence-based skills that can positively shape pain responses and adaptation. In the realm of physician training, foundation work has promoted the biopsychosocial model of pain treatment [23–25]; however, key questions remain regarding referring providers’ perceptions about pain psychology and barriers they may experience in referring their patients for psychological treatment for pain. Accordingly, we sought to include referring providers in our national needs assessment (primary care physicians/physician assistants and nurse practitioners).…”

Recommendations for a New Curriculum in Pain Medicine for Medical Students: Toward a Career Distinguished by Competence and Compassion

“…It is our vision that this systematically derived and clinically oriented topic list will lead the development of new, more powerful pain curricula and will provide guidance to institutions seeking to assess the state of pain education and establish teaching standards in pain . In developing specific curricula based on these topics, many considerations will need to be weighed including: availability of pain expertise, local practice parameters and cultural considerations, the presence or absence of supporting material in the existing curriculum, and perhaps most importantly, the enthusiasm for innovative or forward‐thinking teaching methodologies . In building a curriculum, it is important to consider that integrated pain courses in which students are exposed to pain as a topic under direct course administration by the pain specialists allow for a more comprehensive view of pain medicine and greater depth of engagement between student and teacher.…”