Core Curriculum

[Jon Newman]

Following is the link for a brilliant publication put out by the International Association for the Study of Pain (http://www.iasp-pain.org). You can view the entire book online for free.

Core Curriculum for Professional Education in Pain (http://www.iasp-pain.org/CoreCurriculumThirdEdition.htm)

It is an amazing resource and I would love to see our profession include it in our education.

[Luke Rickards]

Thanks Jon, that's fantastic.

Luke

[Diane]

Wow, thanks for posting that!

[bernard]

Hi All,

I'll not thank you for this link Jon because I know that Diane, certainly, want that I'll make a copy for SomaSimple.;)

Some more work for the future weeks. :mad:

[cedric]

impressive :)
thanks a lot

[OaksPT]

Thanks Jon,
Are you aware if that curriculum (or similar) is actually being used in any institutions? This type of stuff is what post-grad education is all about.
Scott

[Jon Newman]

Oaks,

I don't know of any program incorporating this information but I would certainly consider attending a post-grad program that did. That said, looking through the literature and the references, there is no reason why much of it couldn't be included in basic PT education.

[JaneS]

Hi Jon,
I haven't scrutinised the most recent IASP curriculum changes. However, when I did the 2 yr Grad Dip Sc.Med (pain mgt) at Sydney Uni, it was extremely close to the curriculum then. As student rep for the changes to a 2 year Masters programme, I carefully compared IASP curriculum with proposed changes to what I had done a couple of years before.

Having done the Grad Dip and recently upgraded to the M.Sc.Med (pain mgt), I strongly recommend the course. It is by distance education. As well as supplying you with some reading material and recommending others, participation in discussion in a forum such as this is a compulsory part, together with written assignments. There were discussion groups for each subject - with students in the same group. There is also a general pain forum for all students enrolled in all postgrad pain courses.

When I did the Grad Dip, it was 16 subjects over 2 years - some 2 & some 4 credit points. Now all units are 6 credit points. There are 4 compulsory subjects (intro to pain mgmt, mechanisms, pain conditions & pain management approaches). Many of the subjects which I did are now electives. The current student does the 4 core subjects in 1st year. A grad dip is core + 2 electives and the masters is core + 4 electives. Electives vary greatly and include all areas covered by the IASP curriculum. When I did the course there was no unit on visceral pain. As student rep, I recommended this for the new course and note that it has been developed, together with a few other new electives. I thoroughly recommend it.

Because I had covered all the electives, bar orofacial pain, in my initial study, I repeated the self-directed subject in order to follow a particular interest of mine with assistance of an academic or clinical supervisor. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been sounding out a few ideas but have not got everything together to put the whole thing on line.

I know that there are other courses available. At the IASP conference, I attended a dinner (not the main conference dinner) in which a new programme was discussed. I think the details have been made generally public, but to be on the safe side, 2 unis outside Australia will now offer the same programme. There are also pain programmes offered by other Unis around the world but I don't know anything about them.

In my group were students from Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and all metropolitan and regional areas of Australia.

I may be biased but I think it is a very broad comprehensive course for anyone involved with the management of pain in humans - I don't think the vets have got into the action yet. (Orofacial pain was introduced for the dentists). To me the hardest subject was pharmacology by far - because I had not previously gone into chemical structure and pharmacodynamics/ pharmacokinetics. However, I think that the structure of the new course may assist students in grasping these concepts.

I seem to remember receiving a new set of IASP curriculum changes in the 2nd half of last year but didn't get around to reading them carefully. If you are interested in this course, go onto www.usyd.edu.au. (I assure you this is written from personal opinion - not an advertisement).

Jane

[JaneS]

PS, Sorry, I need to keep the length of my posts down so as not to bore people silly.
Jane

[Diane]

Jane, you aren't boring!!!!:eek: :D And your posts aren't too long.

Please wax freely! Bernard has lots of room here, and you've got content to your waxing (plenty of wax around here could be by comparison practically content-free or -less...), so relax, and feel free to play a bit. :teeth: Is your forehead really 8 inches tall or is that just a mental image I have of you? :)

[Jon Newman]

Jane,

Thanks for the link. Sydney, Hmm.

Where's the closest snow?

[Eddy Maillot]

Everything has already been mentionned about how good this link is. Thanks.
Eddy

[nari]

jon,

You will usually have to wait until mid June for decent snow, and from Sydney it is about 5 hours' drive (from the north of Sydney); we are about 2 hours from the snow. It snows on our local ranges but generally is not skiable.


Nari

[Jon Newman]

Thanks Nari,

If I decide to go that route I'll have to do the distance ed I guess. I've got this thing for snow.

Jane, thanks again for the tip, I didn't know those programs even existed.

[Luke Rickards]

Jon,

As far as I know, you can't do that course any other way than by distance. I've been thinking about doing it too. Maybe we'll be cyber classmates.

Luke

[Jon Newman]

Virtual classmates. Interesting. Do you think there is any chance that they'd consider a SomaSimple group discount?

[Luke Rickards]

Why not! :teeth:

[JaneS]

Hi Jon,
As Nari said, decent skiing is some hours' drive away. Or you could fly to NZ - actually they have better powder snow. (No, I'm a born & bred Aussie if anyone was wondering).

Diane, thanks for your encouragement. I was also a bit shy when I started the Grad Dip - but soon became very talkative on-line. My poorly-regarded undergrad & desire to 'feel out' people & attitudes on-line are probably the main reasons. Yes, I do take men's size hats. They might be filled out with brain or thick skull - who knows? ;(

I'm glad I found NOI - and that Emad introduced me to SS.

Jane

[Diane]

Jane, I'm glad I found NOI - and that Emad introduced me to SS (Good on you Emad!) Well, feel free to be talkative and to invite more of your on-line friends who may also be talkative, over. :)

[Jon Newman]

I just found this IASP curriculum for therapies (http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Therapy&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=1806). Any academics out there?

What do you think? Is there room for this in the PT curriculum? Would it be consistent with APTA's vision (for those in the US)?

[Mary C]

I noticed that the copyright at the bottom is 1994. And that trigger points are included.
Wouold need to be updated, I guess.

[Luke Rickards]

Mary,

Actually, trigger points and MPS still feature in the IASP taxonomy. Though obviously controversial, the construct is fiercely defended by many.

What is more surprising is some of the things on this list -
xiii. other interventions (ultrasound, Rolfing, shiatsu, pulsed electromagnetic fields, McKenzie's techniques, Alexander techniques, Trager, muscle energies, myofascial release and craniosacral techniques, mobilization of the nervous system)

[Mary C]

Suppose we write our own curriculum. This board is international in scope. I could proof read.:D

If we followed the IASP outline, the 2 courses would be easy to compare. At least that way, the modern research would be presented as part of the course.

[Diane]

Go for it Mary. :)

[Luckbox]

Here is a link to the American Academy of Pain Management. Should anyone be interested there is information on becoming credentailed in Pain Management.

http://www.aapainmanage.org/