APMA Pain self-management education

APMA offers a range of pain self-management education seminars to the health, community and insurance sectors. Pain self-management presentations are also available for people with pain and carers. APMA facilitators have developed the training merging health and education expertise. The training is interactive and designed to increase knowledge and problem solving skills in order to motivate people with pain and improve confidence to utilise self-management techniques. It is founded on the premise that pain self-management is necessary to improve functional outcomes for people suffering with persistent pain. Read more

ONLINE COURSE IN PAIN MEDICINE

Elements of Pain is a website delivering an online course in pain medicine. Run by specialists focused on changing the way pain education is delivered and making studying for the pain fellowship exams easy.
Online lectures on demand: Study from the convenience of home, work, hospital or on the go. Watch on your iPad, tablet, notebook or desktop PC.
Pain Education Wiki: Previous exams, model answers, topical subjects and possible future questions.

Visit Elements of Pain

MEDICATION EDUCATION for nurses

A new evidence based, RCNA endorsed, DVD medication training for nurses involved in persistent (chronic) pain management – earning up to 8 CNE points - is now available.

MedRN has produced a DVD education series for nurses which link the pain management training within the context of the National Pain Strategy. Joyce McSwan, the author, is an accredited Consultant Pharmacist who specialises in medication reviews in residential aged care facilities and medication training for nurses.

While it is nursing home focused, all carers of loved ones in pain are also nurses in their own right.  They too can gain a lot from understanding pain medication and how to make it work for their needs. “If people can be educated and have knowledge in optimising drug therapy, they can be empowered to improve with positive efforts”.

You can find out more about the MedRN Management of Chronic Pain training package here. 

NEURODYNAMICS AND THE NEUROMATRIX CONFERENCE

Following the success of its first international neurodynamics and the neuromatrix conference in Nottingham, UK in 2010, the neuro orthopaedic institute has announced its second conference which will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from Thursday 26 April to Saturday 28 April 2012.

The themes of the conference sessions include neuroscience backed biopsychosocial approaches, health literacy, modern coping and cognitive behavioural therapies, brain based neurosciences, immunology and stress sciences. These are seen as critical to novel and evidence based productivity strategies in recovery from injury. Examples of these strategies, which will be presented in workshop form, include therapeutic neuroscience education, graded imagery programmes, conceptual change workshops, enhanced pacing programmes, therapeutic dance and early and novel assessment of at risk patient programmes. The conference is aimed at all professionals involved in rehabilitation and will be delivered with the same blend of humour, education and entertainment as in 2010.

For more information about the conference see www.noi2012.com

Back Pain Pathway

Sheffield is mostly famous for producing stainless steel. In the 21st century it can also be proud of its innovative back pain website which has the endorsement of the Sheffield NHS. This website is easy to navigate with information for health professionals, patients and employers. It could become a weekly website tool for health professionals with patients exhibiting back pain. All resources are visually reinforced with short videos. Health professional resources include:

The website navigates from the bottom of the page. The patient resources give advice on which activities to modify, reduce anxiety and return to health.  Pete Moore’s Pain Toolkit (with delightful cartoons) is a quick & simple resource to give consumers some tips to guide them back to better health.     http://www.sheffieldbackpain.com/

PERSISTENT Pain in adolescents

Managing Persistent Pain in Adolescents, a handbook for therapists, Roslyn Rogers, 2008. Radcliffe. Roslyn, an occupational therapist has spent many years working with adolescents in a multidisciplinary pain management clinic in Melbourne. She has kindly allowed us to reproduce the Appendix to the book for this website. The following strategies cover: sleep, breathing, relaxation, managing pain behaviour, helpful thoughts, learning to focus, mindfulness meditation, how to record practice and templates for record practice. Read more

Sleep Problems

Drug & Alcohol Services South Australia (DASSA) have put together a comprehensive package of insomnia resources for GPs. The Insomnia Management Kit is designed to be a clinical tool to assist with the assessment and treatment of sleep problems. The accompanying chart illustrates the chain of steps from assessment through to management options and the Kit also contains a number of brochures which patients can take home to read. Read more