Training should be provided as part of employment induction and repeated regularly thereafter for anaesthetists, ward staff, doctors in training and allied health professionals.
All staff should know how to obtain expert advice when required. This includes being able to access guidelines and protocols.
Members of the IPS should have access to internal and external CPD appropriate to their roles. Funding and time should be available for staff to attend this training.57
Training for anaesthetists to attain basic, intermediate and higher level competencies in pain medicine, as specified by the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, should be provided. Where higher or advanced pain training is not feasible within an individual hospital, it should be available within the region.60
Inpatient pain nurse specialists providing education on the wards should have dedicated time for this role distinct from direct clinical duties.
Training should include consideration of the use of simulation where feasible. For example role play with the pain team simulating a patient with a failed epidural.
Members of the IPS should engage in outpatient (chronic) pain CPD.
Clear lines of communication and close working with other services such as surgical and medical colleagues, outpatient (chronic) pain, palliative care, emergency medicine and primary care should be in place.
Advice for the management of step down analgesia should be provided for primary care doctors, where required.
Inpatient pain services should engage with critical incident reporting, root cause analysis and mortality and morbidity meetings as part of the local hospital reporting structure.61
