Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Comparative Study
How does an undergraduate pain course influence future physicians' awareness of chronic pain concepts? A comparative study.
Pain is one of the most undertreated medical complaints, with barriers to effective pain management lying in poor education of health professionals and misconceptions regarding patients in pain. The aim of this study was to assess whether an elective undergraduate course on chronic pain offered in Greek medical schools influences knowledge and attitudes of medical undergraduates about chronic pain and helps them clarify pain-related concepts. ⋯ Although students enter medical school with little knowledge about pain issues, pain awareness can be positively influenced by education. A curriculum about pain should not only teach the basic science of pain but also present treatment strategies available and address the socio-emotional dimensions of pain. Additionally, if misconceptions about opioid use and addiction are properly elucidated early in medical education, the future health practitioners will be one step forward in achieving the goal of alleviating suffering patients' pain.
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Previous research suggests female and black patients receive less optimal treatment for their chronic pain compared with male and white patients. Provider-related factors are hypothesized to contribute to unequal treatment, but these factors have not been examined extensively. This mixed methods investigation examined the influence of patients' demographic characteristics on providers' treatment decisions and providers' awareness of these influences on their treatment decisions. ⋯ These findings suggest there is a considerable variability in the extent to which medical trainees are influenced by patient demographics and their awareness of these decision making influences.
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Publication misrepresentation by residency applicants has been well documented, but fewer studies have investigated it in fellowship applicants, specifically in pain medicine. We therefore sought to evaluate the demographics of pain medicine fellowship applicants and the type, number, and accuracy of referenced publications they reported. ⋯ The lack of national data, specifically on applicant misrepresentation, due to the heretofore absence of a universal application process or match, impedes assessment of the extent to which these findings are representative of the national applicant pool. We observed notable trends (few female applicants; numerous international medical graduate applicants) different from those reported by other specialties. Despite the low rate (5.3%) of fraudulent publications, fellowship program directors and selection committees should be aware of this possibility to ensure selection of fellows with the highest degree of professional and ethical integrity.
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The present study tested the independent and interactive contributions of the somatosensory component of pain (pain intensity) and the affective component of pain (pain unpleasantness) on emotional, social, and daily functioning in chronic pain patients. ⋯ Results suggest that both intensity and unpleasantness contribute unique variance to functional outcomes. The results highlight the importance of interventions that not only try to reduce pain levels but also reduce levels of pain unpleasantness.