The Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA), Indian Society for Study of Pain (ISSP), Kamineni Hospitals and the voluntary organization Travelling Pain School (TPS) have come together to host Essential Pain Management (EPM) workshop on January 26, 2014 in Hyderabad.

The main aim of the EPM workshop is to impart training to healthcare professionals where in trainee doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others related healthcare sectors are trained and imparted skills to manage pain and pain management services.

Healthcare experts say that this health education initiative is very much useful particularly for doctors. The initiative will provide the young doctor with necessary skills and knowledge to manage pain in resource poor settings such as rural areas.

Pain management is the main thing a doctor should know. Today incidences of pain are growing and they are considered next only to common cold. Pain is caused by many reasons and is often hidden. In fact pain management is regarded as a global problem and many people take pain killers to get instant relief, but this habit leads to other side effects that do more harm to the body.

Nearly 22 per cent of Indians suffer from persistent, long-standing pain at any given point in time. When untreated or poorly treated, such pain leads to social, psychological and economic issues, making it a significant public health problem. An important aspect to managing pain effectively is the promotion of affordable treatments. More crucial is the improvement of knowledge about pain among doctors as well as sufferers.

Keeping this in view, educationists and key opinion leaders from Austrian and New Zealand College of Anaesthesiologists (ANZCA) Dr Wayne Morriss, Anaesthetist Christchurch, New Zealand, Dr Roger Goucke Pain Medicine Physician Perth Western Australia have designed a simple frame work for effective management of pain which will be imparted to the healthcare professionals during the workshop.

“The main objective of EPM workshop is to impart training to healthcare professions in pain management. The interactive lectures and group discussions are perfectly tailored for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, social workers, occupational therapists, and others who attend to people in pain. So far EPM workshops have been conducted in 30 different countries and have improved pain management services across different parts of the world,” said an organizer from Kamineni hospital.

The faculty from Australia and New Zealand would be engaged in ‘Train the trainer’ workshop attended by the leading pain physicians in India. One of the commonest conditions a young doctor has to treat is pain. To train the trainee doctors (undergraduates and postgraduates) and nurses, an ambitious project EPM-Lite will be launched from Hyderabad and from there on it will be implemented across India.