Leading pain medicine experts gather in Melbourne to advance national pain care agenda
More than 150 delegates from across Australia gathered in Melbourne yesterday for the Faculty of Pain Medicine’s National Pain Education Summit, where health professionals, educators, accreditation bodies, researchers and people with lived experience explored how to implement the new Australian Standards for Health Practitioner Pain Management Education.
The momentum continues today as leading clinicians, researchers, trainees, general practitioners, physicians, allied health professionals and consumer advocates attend the FPM Spring Meeting in Melbourne from 2-3 October.
Under the theme “Advancing pain care: Challenges and opportunities,” the meeting features keynote lectures, panel discussions and workshops exploring pelvic pain, the biopsychosocial model, multidisciplinary care, interventional pain medicine and emerging research.
Program highlights include:
- Pelvic pain as a model for integrated care.
- Bridging specialties in complex pain care.
- Electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration (ePPOC) closure: where to next for pain outcomes and benchmarking?
- Interventional pain medicine: evidence, innovation and patient selection.
- Research, translation and the future of pain care.
FPM Dean Professor Michael Veltman says the two events provide an important opportunity to strengthen pain education and examine how pain care continues to evolve.
“The National Pain Education Summit demonstrated a strong commitment across the health sector to improving pain education and progressing implementation of the standards.
“The Spring Meeting continues that conversation, bringing together specialists, researchers and health professionals to examine the latest evidence, innovations and challenges in pain medicine.”
Pain affects 5.4 million Australians and is present across virtually every type of healthcare presentation.
Professor Veltman says reducing that burden requires continued investment in evidence-based pain care, research, education and a specialist workforce equipped to manage complex pain.
“Pain medicine is inherently multidisciplinary and person-centred. Effective care requires us to understand the biological, psychological and social factors that shape each person’s experience of pain.
“People living with pain need access to high-quality, evidence-based and multidisciplinary care, regardless of where they live or how complex their pain may be.”
FPM is a world leader in pain medicine training and standards and is the only multidisciplinary body in Australia and New Zealand responsible for training specialist pain medicine physicians drawn from anaesthesia, psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine, general practice and other medical specialties.
"The National Pain Education Summit and Spring Meeting bring together the people who educate, research, regulate, deliver and experience pain care, supporting stronger pain education and evidence-based care across the health system."
