EFIC Pain School on Multidisciplinary Pain Management
General information
30 March –2 April 2026
Osijek, Croatia
Course Organisers: Ivan Omrčen (Croatia), Eleni Chrona (Greece), Božena Jerković-Parać (Slovenia), Ivan Keser (Bosnia-Herezgovina), Snežana Tomašević-Todorović (Serbia)
EFIC Faculty: Indre Bileviciute Ljungar (Sweden), Silviu Brill (Israel), Daniel Ciampi de Andrade (Denmark), Luis Garcia-Larrea (France), Victor Mayoral (Spain), Lance McCracken (UK, Sweden), Bart Morlion (Belgium), Michiel Reneman (Netherlands)
Local Faculty: Dino Budrovac (Croatia), Eleni Chrona (Greece), Iva Dimitrijević (Croatia), Dijana Hnatešen (Croatia), Marija Heffer (Croatia), Denis Imamović (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Josipa Ivanušić Pejić (Croatia), Božena Jerković-Parać (Slovenia), Ivan Keser (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Aleksandar Knežević (Serbia), Domagoj Kretić (Croatia), Zdravka Krivdić Dupan (Croatia), Metoda Lipnik-Stangeli (Slovenia), Vanja Matković (Croatia), Vasileia Nyktari (Greece), Miroslava Pjević (Serbia), Simon Podnar (Slovenia), Ivan Radoš (Croatia), Snežana Tomašević (Serbia), Kiriaki Vagdatli (Greece)
Focus of this EFIC Pain School:
The school promotes lifelong learning, critical appraisal of evidence, and professional development within a multidisciplinary and international context, preparing participants to deliver patient-centered, evidence-based pain management across diverse healthcare settings.
The preliminary programme can be found here.
Main Topics:
- Pain mechanisms and neurobiology: Understanding anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of nociceptive, neuropathic, mixed, and nociplastic pain.
- Bio-psycho-social model: Integrating biological, psychological, and social factors into chronic pain management.
- Assessment and measurement: Conducting physical, sensory, autonomic, and psychological evaluations; applying clinimetrics.
- Diagnostic techniques: Using imaging, electrophysiology, nerve blocks, and molecular biomarkers for mechanism-based diagnosis.
- Pharmacological management: Rational use of analgesics, opioids, neuropathic drugs, and polytherapy strategies.
- Physical and rehabilitation approaches: Applying physical therapy and non-invasive stimulation to restore function and relieve pain.
- Psychological interventions: Implementing CBT and psychodynamic therapies in chronic pain care.
- Interventional procedures: Performing invasive and non-invasive neuromodulation and targeted injections.
- Multidisciplinary/inter-professional care: Organizing teams and collaborating across medical and non-medical professionals.
- Complex pain case management: Applying multimodal assessment and treatment strategies in diverse clinical scenarios.
- Implementation in practice: Translating knowledge into real-world clinical care and overcoming barriers to multidisciplinary approaches.
Target Audience
The School is open to early-to-mid career healthcare professionals from clinical backgrounds, who are already working in the field of pain or are considering a career in pain management. Given the theme of the Pain School and the EFIC’s philosophy of multi-disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, the School is intended for applicants from different professions (i.e., medical doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, etc.), including trainees.
Learning Outcomes
Participants will develop a comprehensive understanding of pain through a biopsychosocial lens, recognising biological, psychological, and social contributors. They will gain advanced assessment skills for treating acute, chronic, and neuropathic pain, applying validated tools and mechanism-based reasoning. The program emphasises interprofessional collaboration, equipping learners to design and implement multimodal pain management strategies that integrate pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches.
How to apply
Application for this EFIC Pain School is now open. The deadline for applications is 15 January 2026.
- Please note that for this pain school, your level of English needs to be at least C1 or higher according to the CEFR standard.
- EFIC offer 15 places for this Pain School free of charge via a grant. For the chosen 15 applicants, all teaching and related activities are provided free of charge, along with accommodation and meals. The only significant cost these applicants should expect to pay is their travel.
- Participation in the school is also possible as self-paying attendee. The fee is 1.000€ and includes lectures, learning material, meals during breaks, lunches and dinner. Please contact Ivan Omrčen, ivanmefos@gmail.com to find out more.
- As EFIC Pain Schools aim to focus specifically on interprofessionalism, applications from nurses and physiotherapists are especially encouraged.
- All applications are evaluated by the European Pain Federation EFIC® Committee on Education and approved by the Executive Board.
