Highlights
- •The average contact hours teaching pain in physical therapy curricula was 31 hours.
- •The majority of schools that responded covered the science of pain, assessment, and management.
- •Less than 50% of respondents were aware of the Institute of Medicine report on pain or the International Association for the Study of Pain guidelines for physical therapy pain education.
- •61% of respondents believed that their students received adequate education in pain management.
Abstract
Insufficient pain education is problematic across the health care spectrum. Recent
educational advancements have been made to combat the deficits in pain education to
ensure that health care professionals are proficient in assessing and managing pain.
The purpose of this survey was to determine the extent of pain education in current
Doctorate of Physical Therapy schools in the United States, including how pain is
incorporated into the curriculum, the amount of time spent teaching about pain, and
the resources used to teach about pain. The survey consisted of 10 questions in the
following subject areas: basic science mechanisms and concepts about pain, pain assessment,
pain management, and adequacy of pain curriculum. The overall response was 77% (167/216)
for the first series of responses of the survey (Question 1), whereas 62% completed
the entire survey (Questions 2–10). The average contact hours teaching about pain
was 31 ± 1.8 (mean ± standard error of the mean) with a range of 5 to 115 hours. The
majority of schools that responded covered the science of pain, assessment, and management.
Less than 50% of respondents were aware of the Institute of Medicine report on pain
or the International Association for the Study of Pain guidelines for physical therapy
pain education. Only 61% of respondents believed that their students received adequate
education in pain management. Thus, this survey demonstrated how pain education is
incorporated into physical therapy schools and highlighted areas for improvement such
as awareness of recent educational advancements.
Perspective
This article demonstrates how pain education is incorporated into physical therapy
curricula within accredited programs. Understanding the current structure of pain
education in health professional curriculum can serve as a basis to determine if recent
publications of guidelines and competencies impact education.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 11, 2014
Accepted:
November 2,
2014
Received in revised form:
October 27,
2014
Received:
August 5,
2014
Footnotes
M.K.H.B. receives research support from the National Institutes of Health. K.A.S. receives research funding from Medtronic, Inc, Grunenthal, and National Institutes of Health, research supplies (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation units/electrodes) provided by DJO, Inc, and royalties from IASP Press for book titled “Pain Mechanisms and Management for the Physical Therapist.” She is a member of the advisory panel for IASP Press and secretary for the American Pain Society. She served as a member of the Task Force to Develop Physical Therapy Pain Education Guidelines from the International Association for the Study of Pain and served on competency advisory committee for the Interprofessional Pain Management Competency Program.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
