Introducing a Standardised Method of Teaching Pain Medicine to British Medical Schools Background A survey of pain education within undergraduate medical studies estimated that ‘the identification, assessment and treatment of pain represent less than 1% of the university- based teaching for healthcare professionals’. The Essential Pain Management Programme (EPM) was originally developed in Australia and New Zealand as an educational tool for health care workers in low and middle- income countries. EPM Lite is a half day version of the full course aimed at medical students. The UK Faculty of Pain Medicine introduced EPM Lite as a project in 2014 and the first UK EPM Lite course was held in Bristol. Method EPM Lite is based on the acronym, RAT (Recognise, Assess, Treat) to allow rapid recall of a logical, stepwise system for pain management. The format is short lectures, with a wide series of case based discussions. The course encourages discussion of non-pharmacological therapies, appropriate use of drugs, and issues around the use of opioids in chronic non-cancer pain. Handbooks, slide sets and references are provided for instructors and students. EPM Lite was piloted at The University of Bristol Medical School in the 2014/15 academic year and delivered to a total of 240 fourth year medical students over four sessions. In the current academic year it has been delivered to the entire year group of third year medical students on a single half day session! The course is flexible: colleagues in seven other Medical Schools have run EPM Lite in a variety of guises: as an ‘extra-lite’ version for hour-long weekly medical student seminars, for small group teaching in year 2 and 3, in the fourth year during the students’ Anaesthesia Specialty Study Modules, and on a Final Year ‘survival’ course in preparation for taking up FY1 posts. Future directions EPM Lite is currently in various stages of consideration or implementation in five other Medical Schools. The format has been continually adapted according to feedback. Students (particularly those in later years), told us that the most beneficial elements of the course were the case studies and small group discussions; so the course has been adapted to minimise the didactic element in favour of group- work. Next steps Expand to other Medical Schools Integrate with broader approaches to teaching pain management Expand to other healthcare professionals Develop robust evaluation References Briggs, EV, Carr ECJ, Whittaker MS. Survey of undergraduate pain curricula for healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom. Eur J Pain 2011;15:789–795. Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge and thank Wayne Morriss, Roger Goucke and Linda Huggins (Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists), developers of the original EPM concept, for allowing us to use this course in the UK. We are also hugely grateful to all those colleagues who have been working on getting EPM Lite introduced across the UK. If you want to know more please contact Feedback from students They liked/learned: The RAT approach That recognising pain is important The difference between neuropathic and nociceptive pain The WHO pain ladder That different drugs are used in different types of pain A lot! Good group vibe! Michael O’Connor 1, Jyoti Chand 1, Daniel Waeland 1, Clare Roques 1, Doug Justins 1, Helen Makins 2, Ben Howes 2, Kate Grady 1 1 EPM Working Group, Faculty of Pain Medicine, Royal College of Anaesthetists 2 University of Bristol Medical School Essential Pain Medicine EPM Lite