Pain Managment (MSc/PgDip/PgCert - Distance Learning) – (M.Sc.)

The course is designed to achieve the following learning outcomes:

* Develop a critical approach to pain management in the health setting;
* Integrate knowledge of pain from different discipline areas such as the biological, psychological, sociological, pharmacological sciences;
* Challenge traditional approaches to conceptualizing pain;
* Challenge traditional treatments regarding pain;
* Develop a multidisciplinary knowledge based on pain;
* Encourage research activity to both consolidate and extend current theories, approaches and treatments regarding pain.

Pain is a multidimensional phenomenon and as such needs to be managed through multidisciplinary initiatives. These initiatives must be based on specialist knowledge, rigorous research and an advanced understanding of the physiological and behavioural concepts involved.

The course is an e-learning, interprofessional course. The taught component introduces the student to the multifaceted nature of caring for patients who have pain. The modules provide the student with the ability to understand the biopsychosocial aspects of pain and to evaluate the various approaches to assessing and managing patients in pain. Professional issues, including clinical governance and interprofessional practice, will be covered.

Pathways are available to suit the needs of primary, secondary and tertiary care.

Some of the modules are core; others allow student choice. E-learning assessment strategies enable students to focus on their areas of interest and are structured to allow students to evaluate the topic in relation to their practice and professional base.

Forty places are offered each year and the majority of students are self-funded, though some obtain awards from charities and trusts. The course takes eighteen months for stage one (taught component) and a further six months for the dissertation.

There are no residential components in this course so there is no need to travel to Cardiff for course purposes.

Students will access the modules through the medium of Learning Central which is Cardiff University’s Virtual Learning Environment (or VLE) which delivers the course materials. This is accessible via all forms of computer (desk top / lap top / tablet), smart phones and ipads; via a dedicated Learning Central application (downloadable from the Apple App. Store).

Assessment

Students will be expected to submit and pass:

* Three modular assessments for the Postgraduate Certificate:
* Six modular assessments for the Postgraduate Diploma:
* Completion of the Diploma and a 20,000-word dissertation for the Master of Science Degree.

Special features:
* Interprofessional plus e-learning.
* The first PgDip/MSc in Pain Management course to be developed.
* Emphasis on a biopsychosocial approach.
* Pathways for primary, secondary and tertiary care.
* A new primary care pathway is available within the MSc Pain Management to reflect the move of
chronic pain services closer to peoples’ homes and this is facilitated and managed by an
inter-professional, expert primary care faculty including leading GPs with a Special Interest in
pain within the UK.