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Pain Training in the UK
- William E Rea (11 August 2008)
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William E Rea Birmingham School of Anaesthesia
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Editor – I read with interest the editorial by Dr Justins1 which raises some important issues regarding pain training in the UK. I agree that training needs to be improved in the areas identified in the article and also agree that there is a need to unite the various interested specialties. Perhaps the solution to the various problems is to create a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) program in Pain Medicine. This could be modeled on the CCT in Intensive Care Medicine2 and could provide an opportunity for intermediate and advanced level training which may in turn help to differentiate between part-timers and full-timers. A single training pathway leading to award of a CCT in Pain Medicine would help to unite the various specialties and recruit trainees from these specialties (such as Palliative Care, Rheumatology and perhaps even General Practice) to pain. A single set of competencies with a single route to CCT would help trainees and employers to know who can do what. Recruitment of trainees from various disciplines to a common training pathway would help to stimulate interest in pain and improve pain education across the board. As to whether non-anaesthetists could do the interventions; of course they could! They are taught and therefore learnable. Competency based training should ensure that those who are taught achieve the required level, whatever their background. Do we need to separate from our anaesthetics brethren to achieve this? Probably not. Development of any CCT program should be run by the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, particularly as the bulk of trainees are likely to come from anaesthesia anyway. We already have a clear syllabus and program of assessment for advanced pain training. A first step forward would be for Advanced Pain Training posts to be advertised nationally and open to competitive entry. A CCT program in Pain Medicine would help us to be recognized as an independent specialty and help in our battle for recognition with the administrators and policy makers. 1. Justins DM. Editorial II The Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Br J Anaesth 2008: 101 (1): 4-7. 2. The Intercollegiate Board for Training in Intensive Care Medicine. The CCT in Intensive Care Medicine. London: Royal College of Anaesthetists, 2002. Available from www.rcoa.ac.uk/icbticm/docs W. Rea Birmingham, UK. Email: rea_william@yahoo.com.au Conflict of Interest:None declared |
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