Frank Bate

Systematic Review of Pain Medicine Content, Teaching, and Assessment in Medical School Curricula Internationally

IntroductionPain management is a major health care challenge in terms of the significant prevalence of pain and the negative consequences of poor management. Consequently, there have been international calls to improve pain medicine education for medical students. This systematic review examines the literature on pain medicine education at medical schools internationally, with a particular interest in studies that make reference to: a defined pain medicine curriculum, specific pain medicine learning objectives, dedicated pain education modules, core pain topics, medical specialties that teach pain medicine, elective study opportunities, hours allocated to teaching pain medicine during the curriculum, the status of pain medicine in the curriculum (compulsory or optional), as well as teaching, learning, and assessment methods.MethodsA systematic review was undertaken of relevant studies on pain medicine education for medical students published between January 1987 and May 2018 using PubMed, Medline, Excerpta Medica database (EMBASE), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), and Google Scholar, and Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) data bases.ResultsFourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Evaluation of pain medicine curricula has been undertaken at 383 medical schools in Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America (USA), Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), and Europe. Pain medicine was mostly incorporated into medical courses such as anaesthesia or pharmacology, rather than presented as a dedicated pain medicine module. Ninety-six percent of medical schools in the UK and USA, and nearly 80% of medical schools in Europe had no compulsory dedicated teaching in pain medicine. On average, the median number of hours of pain content in the entire curriculum was 20 in Canada (2009), 20 in Australia and New Zealand (2018), 13 in the UK (2011), 12 in Europe (2012/2013), and 11 in the USA (2009). Neurophysiology and pharmacology pain topics were given priority by medical schools in all countries. Lectures, seminars, and case-based instruction were the teaching methods most commonly employed. When it was undertaken, medical schools mostly assessed student competency in pain medicine using written examinations rather than clinical assessments.ConclusionsThis systematic review has revealed that pain medicine education at medical schools internationally does not adequately respond to societal needs in terms of the prevalence and public health impact of inadequately managed pain.

Development of sustainable schools–university partnerships: lessons learnt from mobile learning collaborations in early years’ education

ABSTRACT mLearning is not widely used in early years’ education, although it has been shown to be beneficial to children’s learning. This paper discusses the initial findings of a three-year longitudinal study into the costs and benefits of implementing mLearning in early childhood education at two case study sites. A partnership model is used between a university school of education and two state primary schools in Western Australia. A qualitative approach (interviews, focus groups and field observations) is adopted to collect data from pre-service and practising teachers, school leaders and parents and carers. Initial findings indicate that pre-service and practising teachers increased personal confidence, technological knowledge and insights into implementing mlearning in the classroom. Six themes are discussed as links in a chain that might support sustainable schools–university partnerships. Schools and universities considering developing partnerships as a mechanism to institute sustainable educational change can consider the model proposed.

Using e-textbooks to support problem-based learning in science: Learning from the journey

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of e-textbooks to promote problem-based learning for high school science students. The e-textbooks were developed and deployed in a metropolitan high school in Western Australia. Through a series of Design Based Research cycles, over three years, the design of the e-textbooks was refined to create more effective problem-based learning environments for students. The final e-textbooks allowed students to engage successfully in problem-based learning.