Educational program for medical residents in cancer pain management.

Abstract

198 Background: Studies have shown significant deficits in the knowledge of physicians in Cancer Pain Management (CPM). We implemented an educational program on CPM for medical residents with pre and post-testing to assess baseline knowledge and the improvement after education. Methods: The content of the lecture was derived from the Cancer Pain Education Resource (CAPER). It included assessment, non-pharmacological interventions, equi-analgesic conversions , titration, side effects, withdrawal, dependence and addiction. An online questionnaire was created to assess the baseline knowledge and the residents accessed it using their mobile phones. After the lecture the same was used to assess the improvement in knowledge. 22 residents from Newark Beth Israel Internal Medicine Residency Program participated in the lecture and the pre/post-tests. After the lecture, they were given a pocket card with opioid equi-analgesic dosing calculations.Two months later, the same questionnaire was used to assess the retained knowledge. Results: The pretest score was 71% and after the lecture it improved to 81%. After 2 months the score was 72%. Notably, the knowledge of equi-analgesic conversions had increased. 95 % of the residents were very satisfied with the lecture and wanted more education on CPM. Improvement in knowledge on specifics of CPM are shown in Table. Conclusions: One of the ways to improve CPM is to focus on education of residents. After a single lecture, there was improvement in all areas of deficiency.The use of simple tools like pocket cards can help to improve knowledge. Our plan is to expand this program to medical students and have additional lectures. We believe that these lectures will improve the quality of CPM in patients. [Table: see text]