title: The ethics of Canadian entry-to-practice pain competencies: how are we doing?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although unrelieved pain continues to represent a significant problem, prelicensure educational programs tend to include little content related to pain. Standards for professional competence strongly influence curricula and have the potential to ensure that health science students have the knowledge and skill to manage pain in a way that also allows them to meet professional ethical standards.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To perform a systematic, comprehensive examination to determine the entry-to-practice competencies related to pain required for Canadian health science and veterinary students, and to examine how the presence and absence of pain competencies relate to key competencies of an ethical nature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Entry-to-practice competency requirements related to pain knowledge, skill and judgment were surveyed from national, provincial and territorial documents for dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology and veterinary medicine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dentistry included two and nursing included nine specific pain competencies. No references to competencies related to pain were found in the remaining health science documents. In contrast, the national competency requirements for veterinary medicine, surveyed as a comparison, included nine pain competencies. All documents included competencies pertaining to ethics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lack of competencies related to pain has implications for advancing skillful and ethical practice. The lack of attention to pain competencies limits the capacity of health care professionals to alleviate suffering, foster autonomy and use resources justly. Influencing professional bodies to increase the number of required entry-to-practice pain competencies may ultimately have the greatest impact on education and practice.
authors: University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. j.watt.watson@utoronto.ca
authors: Judy
authors: J
authors: Watt-Watson
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Peter
authors: A John
authors: AJ
authors: Clark
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Dewar
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Hadjistavropoulos
authors: Pat
authors: P
authors: Morley-Forster
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: O'Leary
authors: Lalitha
authors: L
authors: Raman-Wilms
authors: Anita
authors: A
authors: Unruh
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Webber
authors: Marsha
authors: M
authors: Campbell-Yeo
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003479:Curriculum / Q000592:standards; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000592:standards; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000592:standards; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000592:standards; D004512:Education, Pharmacy / Q000592:standards; D004517:Education, Professional / Q000592:standards*; D026690:Ethics, Clinical / Q000193:education; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000592:standards; D010146:Pain; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty / Q000592:standards