COURSE INFORMATION

DATES AVAILABLE

22 July 2024
(Pain Theory and Science, course homepage available 1 week prior and includes preparatory activities)

13 January 2025
(Pain Education)

CONTACT HOURS

8 week course (Pain Theory and Science)

8 week course (Pain Education)

MODE

Online

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

This certificate is open to health professionals who have clinical experience with patients in pain. Previous completion of undergraduate courses in anatomy, physiology and neuroscience is assumed.

FEES

Pain Theory and Science AU$2200
Pain Education AU$2200

Total cost of Professional Certificate is AU$4400.00

LOCATION

Online

Course overview

This two-course post-graduate professional certificate is designed for health professionals seeking an opportunity to advance their understanding and skills in pain assessment, management, and communication. The courses will cover pain models, mechanisms and contributors to pain, clinical assessment and management of pain, and pain-specific education within a multidisciplinary treatment framework.

Who should attend?

This certificate is open to medical and allied health professionals with undergraduate qualifications and is most suited to those who have clinical experience with patients with pain. Previous completion of undergraduate courses in anatomy, physiology and neuroscience is assumed.

The professional certificate is composed of two pain-specific courses, Pain Theory and Science and Pain Education.

Nursing props with the UniSa logo.

Course structure

Pain Theory and Science

This course provides the background knowledge that guides and rationalises the assessment and management of people with pain. It introduces an applied overview of pain theory, covers important pain–related terminology and explains the biological, psychological and social contributors to pain. It integrates the principles of the pain sciences into clinical decision-making frameworks, explores the mechanisms through which pain treatment strategies effect change and provides an overview of common pain states.

Course aim

The aim of this course is to develop an advanced understanding of the biological and psychosocial contributors to the pain experience and their relevance for pain assessment and management.

Course content

Current models for the clinical engagement of pain; the biopsychosocial model of pain; working pain definitions; pain mechanisms and contributors; integration of the pain sciences into clinical reasoning models; pain deconstruction into pathobiological mechanisms; clinical pain states.

Course outcomes

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

  1. Describe the biological and psychosocial factors that contribute to pain.
  2. Synthesise theoretical models of pain to explain its complexity from a biopsychosocial perspective.
  3. Describe the functions of nociceptive, immune, autonomic, neuroendocrine and motor systems in pain.
  4. Identify clinical signs and symptoms that are associated with pain-related mechanisms.
  5. Apply pain sciences principles to the assessment and management of people with pain.

Pain Education

This course focuses on pain-related communication and education. Most clinical guidelines clearly state that education is first line treatment and, as health professionals, we aim to assist our patients to make informed choices about their own care. Educational techniques and strategies are often glossed over in both the pain literature and undergraduate training. As a result, clinicians often don't understand why pain education is important and what it involves. They are also unsure how to go about it, unsure of what content it should include or how to tailor it to the needs of individual patients. Finally, they are often unsure how to evaluate whether their educational strategies have hit the mark. This course aims to address each of these issues.

The overarching intent of Pain Education is to assist health professionals talk about pain to their patients and colleagues and assist them to become effective pain educators in their communities. As an advanced understanding of pain is core competency of a pain educator, certificate students must have successfully completed the course in Pain Theory and Science prior to commencing Pain Education.

Course aim

The aim of this course is to develop health professionals’ understanding and application of pain-specific education within a multidisciplinary pain treatment framework.

Course content

Theories of adult learning and conceptual change, teaching styles, teaching and delivery strategies, curriculum development for target audiences, presentation techniques, student-centred approaches, educational evaluation, enablers and barriers to learning, communication strategies, and ethical considerations.

Course outcomes

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

  1. Discuss theoretical approaches to adult education and their application to pain education
  2. Apply a range of teaching strategies to maximise learning in clinical and other education settings.
  3. Design and implement learner-centred education programs for clinician, patient and general public contexts
  4. Critically reflect on the design, implementation and evaluation of teaching and learning activities
  5. Explain pain effectively within a biopsychosocial framework

Course delivery

The courses are conducted entirely online with content delivered via a combination of webinars, workshops, discussion forums and readings.

Pain Theory and Science is a 8-week course which commences Monday 22 July 2024 (course homepage available 1 week prior and includes preparatory activities).

Pain Education is an 8-week course which tentatively commences Monday 13 January 2025.

Cost

Pain Theory and Science                                                AU$2200.00
Pain Education                                                                  AU$2200.00

Total cost of Professional Certificate is                      AU$4400.00

How to enrol

Download the registration form

Enrolments close

Pain Theory and Science - 7 June 2024
Pain Education - 13 December 2024

Additional information

For more course information and course related queries please contact the UniSA Allied Health and Human Performance alh-teachinglearning@unisa.edu.au

Cancellation policy

The University of South Australia reserves the right to cancel events and issue refunds.  In the event that an attendee cannot attend, a substitute is welcome to attend in their place.  No refunds will be given unless 21 days notice is given in writing prior to the date of the planned event. If less than 21 days the fee can be used for the same course at a later stage, or another course of the same value.