Education for health professionals
Educating health care providers to improve pain care
Clinical education is a core component of Pain BC’s mission; Our wide range of continuing education opportunities are based on a laddered strategy that aims to increase chronic pain capacity among health care providers of all disciplines.
The basis of our strategy is Pain Foundations, an online, self-paced course that is free for health care providers of all disciplines across BC. Building upon that knowledge, Pain BC offers discipline-specific education through our advanced clinical workshops for allied health providers and through our support of the chronic pain module of UBC Practice Support Program, which supports family physicians in British Columbia (BC) with quality improvement activities.
Our newest education program, the BC ECHO for Chronic Pain, launched in spring of 2019 and forms the third tier of our strategy. Our ECHO provides a free virtual learning community for BC health care providers to meet with specialists via monthly videoconference to learn together from complex pain cases.
In addition to these offerings, we offer many other educational offerings for health care providers, including free monthly webinars, our Gentle Movement and Relaxation course and free print and digital educational resources for providers and patients.
Pain Foundations
In January 2019, Pain BC launched Pain Foundations, an online, self-paced course that supports health care professionals to improve their baseline knowledge on chronic pain and prepares them for more in-depth study. The course is free to access for health care providers of all disciplines in BC. www.painbc.ca/painfoundations
1062
health care providers enrolled in Pain Foundations in 2019
Very useful and relevant – one of the best online health related course I have taken. I can’t wait to use the tools and resources!
I enjoyed the well-rounded approach with cultural considerations for our diverse population of patients. Understanding the importance of body language, choice of wording and sensitivity to trauma is extremely helpful in changing my approach when working with a patient experiencing chronic pain.
Gentle Movement and Relaxation
Pain BC’s Gentle Movement and Relaxation Course provides physiotherapists, kinesiologists and other therapeutic movement professionals with the knowledge and resources they need to lead their own movement and relaxation programs for people with pain in their local communities. The online, self-paced course is free for health care providers in BC with the understanding that the practitioner will offer the program at an accessible price to people with pain. www.painbc.ca/gentlemovement
310
health care providers enrolled in Gentle Movement in 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this course, every health care professional should take it! I now have a better understanding of pain and have adopted tools that will help me improve function in my clients living with chronic pain.
I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to take this course. It was an exceptionally well-designed, thorough, and valuable resource that is greatly appreciated. Sincere gratitude to all the hard work, expertise, and care that went into creating it.
BC ECHO for Chronic Pain
The BC ECHO for Chronic Pain launched in Spring 2019 and forms the third tier of Pain 
BC’s professional education strategy. Funded by SharedCare, ECHO provides a free virtual learning community for BC health care providers to meet with specialists via monthly videoconference to learn together from complex pain cases. The initiative is based on an established model of virtual health care education and provides a significant opportunity for practitioners to improve their competence in chronic pain care, which helps to reduce disparities in the quality of care for rural and underserved areas. www.painbc.ca/echo
355
health care providers attended ECHO in 2019
7
ECHO sessions were held in 2019
I love the ability to connect via video to get input from specialists on my most challenging cases. The team was very knowledgeable and supportive, which made it a very valuable experience.
10425 HCPs reached through all education initiatives
(courses, presentations, webinars, workshops, etc)
204
Workshop attendees
7
Workshops held
17
Learning sessions
8
Webinars held
337
Webinar attendees
832
Webinar registrants
Providing pain education for health care providers in the Downtown Eastside
Pain BC partnered with the Vancouver Community Chronic Pain Service in the fall of 2019 to deliver a series of pain presentations for health care providers serving Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The learning series presented essential topics in pain management, raised awareness of Vancouver Community’s pain service and built a community of practice among primary care clinics serving Vancouver and the Downtown Eastside. Over the course of the series, the Pain Services Team presented 16 lectures at six different clinics to an audience of more than 275 health care providers and front-line staff, providing a critical opportunity to reflect and share learnings for best practice pain care.
Online education and pain management tools for people with pain
Pain BC’s Live Plan Be website is a free online self-management tool providing people in pain and caregivers with resources to help manage pain and well-being. It includes information on evidence-based pain management approaches and self-assessments that can help people with pain track their health and set goals. www.liveplanbe.ca
12,179
Unique users
18,254
Sessions
24,000
Brochures distributed
500
Accounts created
407
Self-assessments completed
163
Action plans created
