Use of the National Institutes of Health pain education cases to frame an interprofessional activity with healthcare professional students

Abstract

Creating authentic learning experiences in pain education is both challenging and important for healthcare educators. While didactic lecture about pain management is a common pedagogical approach, interactive experiences are less common due to the need for high level coordination. The purpose of this article is to share an interactive educational activity designed to build student understanding of treatment for persistent pain. Interprofessional (IP) groups discussed respective roles and responsibilities during a case-based care team meeting and created a comprehensive care plan for a patient experiencing pain using contemporary cases, based in practice. Students utilized knowledge obtained from their professional coursework and experience from preliminary clinical experience to share with other healthcare professional students their discipline-specific perspective on treating persistent pain. Through sharing of scope of practice information and discipline specific experience, the IP groups created an extensive and collaborative pain management plan. Outcomes of the activity included a presentation of the case, use of ISBAR (Identity, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) and assessment of their own learning and evaluation of the activity.