Newcastle University

Aims

By successfully completing this module, ‘Managing Pain’ (ONC8012), you will be able to deal confidently with pain, its assessment and its management. As a result of this module students will be able to:

•       Confidently assess pain;
•       Confidently apply pain theories to pain syndromes encountered in their own area of practice;
•       Differentiate between types of pain;
•       Critically evaluate a selection of pharmacological/non pharmacological methods of pain relief;
•       Discuss the multidisciplinary aspects of pain management;
•       Discuss the holistic impact of pain on the patient and family;
•       Reflect upon their own attitudes and attitudes of other members of the MDT to the patients in pain;
•       Critically evaluate outcome measures currently available to monitor the quality of pain;
•       Apply theories of pain management to own area of clinical practice.

Outline Of Syllabus

Pain is something we all want to avoid. It touches every aspect of an individual's life when a patient experiences prolonged pain. It impinges upon the lives of those surrounding the sufferer, and not only the families and carers, but also the healthcare professionals involved in the patients management. Sadly, pain is often undertreated and the reasons for this are multifactorial but even though good medication is available, the opioids remain underused because of fears and misconceptions that surround their use.

The place to start is in the ‘Course Documents’ folder and click on topic 1.

In Unit 1 we will consider many of the practical issues that face healthcare professionals in their interaction with cancer patients. This will cover the impact of the multidisciplinary team and the factors that require consideration in the dying patient.

In Unit 2 we will consider how our practice influences the approaches to managing pain, or perhaps how we approach such problems within a framework that encourages multidisciplinary and inter-professional values. It will also review the basic science of the neurological system and the pharmacology of the analgesic agents.

In Unit 3 we will evaluate the wider context of pain and the influence of society, ethnicity, age and cover discussion of difficult issues encountered in practice. If you do not have direct involvement in the management of pain in your own workplace, don’t worry, as this is an opportunity to explore your ideas, concepts and thoughts about how you would like to see it managed in an ideal environment.


This module tries to make sense of many of the political changes that have taken place in the health service over the last decade and considers how they have impacted on modern cancer practice. More critically, this will consider the influence of guidelines on our own practice and the assessments will focus on your critical analysis skills in the review of a framework document and the drafting of a guideline for your own practice environment.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The on-line availability of this module is perceived as being appropriate. The availability of the module will permit staff from various parts of the UK and the international community to access this module. On-line materials will be designed around learning outcomes.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Formative assessment 1: Review an article from the literature pertaining to any of the new fentanyl formulations available on the market (eg buccal, sublingual, nasal) and their use in breakthrough pain. Reviews will then be posted onto Blackboard after which you are to critically appraise the review of another student using the discussion board.

Formative assessment 2: Review a guideline for pain either from the students own clinical practice, or if student not currently using one pick one from the resource material provided. Critically review the work of two other students using the discussion board.

Summative assessment: 3500 words
Produce a guideline for an aspect of pain management for the students own area of clinical practice. Complete a review of the evidence supporting this guideline


The negotiated essay relevant to student's practice arena will be reflective in nature and facilitate the critical application of relevant research to the chosen title. Students will be required to justify the relevance of the chosen topic to the module learning outcomes.