Events and meetings play an important role in advancing the field of pain by bringing together scientists, healthcare professionals (HCPs), clinicians, policymakers and the public to facilitate education and discussion of innovative ideas and approaches. Recent events include the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) Virtual Series on Pain & Expo and the European Pain Federation (EFIC) Pain Summit. 

IASP Virtual Series on Pain & Expo

The IASP aims to stimulate and support the study of pain and translation of research into improved pain relief worldwide. Continuing into this year, the IASP is hosting an ongoing 6-month event (September 2020 to March 2021) that consists of live and on-demand content on the latest pain science. The virtual series consists of over 20 continuing medical education (CME)-accredited scientific sessions, 400 interactive posters, a virtual exhibit hall and networking lounges. You can register here.

Previous sessions include the Southeast Asia pain education course ‘Not all back pain is the same: The importance of individualized assessment and treatment’. The speakers discussed the need for multidisciplinary, individualised assessment and treatment of chronic low back pain. An interactive session titled ‘Self-management of pain during a pandemic: Is this possible?’ covered the ways self-management support has been adapted and delivered. Upcoming sessions to look out for include the lived experience on ‘Why don’t patients do what I tell them to? The art and science of healthcare communication’. This session will explore barriers and solutions in effective communication between patients and HCPs – an ongoing problem in the field of pain and an issue that is important to address. A full schedule of sessions can be found here.

EFIC Pain Summit

The EFIC is an organisation in the field of pain research and medicine, consisting of the 37 chapters of the IASP in Europe. Offering 48 sessions over 3 days (6–8 November 2020), the Virtual Pain Education Summit was the largest online pain meeting of 2020. Sign up to access the on-demand sessions here.

The Pain Summit delivered a range of sessions including interprofessional learning sessions such as "Referral diagnosis low back pain: Only the tip of the iceberg" managing pain from an MDT perspective’, which addressed the neglect of the biopsychosocial model of chronic low back pain in daily medical practice as well as how to communicate with a person in pain and methods of pain prevention. Other areas included psychology educational sessions such as the ‘Assessment of social and cultural aspects of pain’. A full schedule of sessions can be found here. 

Looking for more?

If you are looking for additional resources inspired by topics covered at these events, CHANGE PAIN offers a range of tools for the assessment, self-management and communication of pain. 

• The localised neuropathic pain screening tool: a simple and time-efficient tool to assist HCPs assessing pain 
• The CHANGE PAIN Pain Toolkit: an email series that HCPs treating pain can direct their patients to for tips and tricks on the self-management of pain 
• The CHANGE PAIN scale: a pain assessment tool developed to improve communication between physicians and patients