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EFIC Education Study

Provision of Pain Education in Medical, Physiotherapy, Nursing, and Psychology Training Programmes across Europe

The European Pain Federation EFIC Education Committee are examining the provision of Pain Education within Medical, Physiotherapy, Nursing and Psychology Training Programmes across Europe, as well as the availability of Postgraduate Pain Specialisation Options for these health professional groups. Quality of Pain Education in Training Programmes across Europe will be bench-marked against the four EFIC Curricula for Pain Medicine, Pain Physiotherapy, Pain Psychology, and Pain Nursing to identify gaps in education.

Steering Committee

The study is led by Dr Mary O’Keeffe (EFIC’s Research Projects Advisor), in close collaboration with Nathan Skidmore (EFIC Research Assistant). Steering Committee Members are: Associate Professor Brona Fullen, Professor Harriet Wittink, Professor Bart Morlion, Professor Ed Keogh, Felicia Cox, Dr Andreas Kopf, and Professor Frank Huygen. Our Methodology consists of:1.  A Survey to seek programme information from Medical, Physiotherapy, Nursing, and Psychology training schools across Europe

2.  Interviews with key organisations responsible for Medical, Physiotherapy, Psychology and Nursing Higher Education in Europe, and EFIC councillors

3.  Consensus meetings with the Steering Committee (+ input of European Pain Forum organisations’ leadership)

Funding

The European Pain Federation EFIC received an unrestricted one-time grant of €32.000,- by Grünenthal for this study. Grünenthal have no role in the design, data collection, or analysis of the study results.

Participate in the survey now

The Survey is now ready to complete here. We are inviting individuals who are employed in European institutions and who have a role in the delivery and/development of education within these disciplines to complete it. Participation involves completing one online survey. The deadline for completion is Friday, 17 November 2023.

The full Survey will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. If education about pain does not feature in the Medical, Physiotherapy, Nursing, or Psychology Training Programme that you are referring to, the Survey will take less than 2 minutes to complete. The European Pain Federation EFIC respects your privacy and all responses will be anonymized. The Survey has received Ethical Approval from the University College of Dublin Human Research Ethics Committee. Any questions about this Survey or the Pain Education Study should be sent first to EFIC’s Research Projects Advisor Dr Mary O’Keeffe at Thank you for your interest in this important work!

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