Pain Care Essentials

It may come as something of a surprise that pain, the most prevalent symptom in clinical practice, is not always addressed specifically in health professions training. Approximately one in six Americans lives with chronic pain in addition to the millions that experience acute pain each day. Half of older adults live with chronic pain-associated conditions, and about half of all healthcare visits are initiated because of pain. Despite this, reports indicate that the vast majority of health professions schools in the United States do not teach required courses on pain, and the total amount of content pertaining to pain is a fraction of a percent of the total. Almost certainly, the lack of education in coordinated, comprehensive, compassionate care for pain-associated conditions contributed to pervasive opioid over-prescribing and the ensuing wave of addiction and deaths that swept the country in the first part of this century. This book is our response to the pain care crisis - it is designed to prepare young clinicians to assess and treat a wide variety of pain conditions in a manner that balances competence and compassion, incorporating coordinated elements of pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies. Designed to be read during or after pre-licensure training, e.g. medical, nursing, pharmacy school, and to inspire students to learn more about painful conditions, this book is unique in its clinical focus and the level of detail that is included. This book aims to improve pain care, most especially if used alongside a formal pain care course as part of pre-licensure training, whether spread over four years or condensed into a shorter period. Through engagement in the interprofessional curriculum planning process, the content of the book has been shaped to align with the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) interprofessional pain curriculum vision and to focus on the primary questions of: What is pain? How is pain assessed? How is pain managed? How does clinical context influence pain?