Standard 6: Collaborative approach to care

The pain experience is often complex and influenced by a range of biological, psychological, cultural and social factors. Appropriately and effectively addressing a person’s pain often requires the expertise and knowledge of more than one health discipline. 

The intent of this standard is to ensure pain management education and training promotes the knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes to enable health practitioners to work collaboratively to meet the diverse needs of the person experiencing pain.  

“There is a general lack of awareness of the roles of most professions other than medical/nursing, psychology and physiotherapy. Many great opportunities are missed when those professions are unaware of what others can offer. The education should both embed an interdisciplinary approach and educate about the broader discipline offerings.” – Stakeholder consultation workshop participant 

“Collaborative approaches are invaluable when pain management is complex, requiring the knowledge and skills of more than one profession. It is logical then, that to work together, future health care workers would benefit from learning together to understand each other’s roles and responsibilities and how to communicate using common language.”^{43 p.2} 

^{Note: All references supporting this information can be found in the full Australian Standards for Health Practitioner Pain Management Education document.}

Given that pain is a consequence of a range of biological, psychological, cultural and social factors and is often complex to understand, assess and manage,^77,87 comprehensive expertise is required to meet the needs of the individual experiencing pain. Collaborative approaches to care (also referred to as “interprofessional”, “interdisciplinary”, or “multidisciplinary care”) recognise that all health disciplines work within varying domains and scopes, often using different clinical frameworks and with different expertise.^61,65,75

Collaborative care approaches to pain management allow the individual to benefit from the expertise, skills and treatment modalities of various health disciplines who work together and in partnership with the individual to understand and manage that person’s pain and meet their identified goals and needs.^45,87-91 Individuals experiencing pain generally appreciate health practitioners who engage with a team to meet their needs,^39,43 particularly when their care goals focus on restoration of physical and psychosocial functions and mental health wellbeing rather than a quick or complete cure.^43,90

The collaborative approach to care standard highlights the importance of collaboration in addressing pain management and seeks to embed the principle in pain management education to promote high quality care models for pain management in Australia. 

^{Note: All references supporting this information can be found in the full Australian Standards for Health Practitioner Pain Management Education document.}

Despite the evidence that collaborative approaches to care are associated with improved patient outcomes and a more efficient health system,^92-94 health practitioner education has generally remained fragmented, failing to leverage the benefits that can be attained from interdisciplinary collaboration.⁴⁵ 

An interdisciplinary education model involves learners from two or more health professions interactively learning together. Such a model enables learners from different disciplines to learn the same content, experience information from the differing perspectives of other health disciplines, understand the roles, responsibilities, scopes of practice and treatment approaches of other health disciplines,^44,54,91 and improve referral pathways,⁴³ communication and collaboration when working with other disciplines in the care environment.^44,54,91 

Undertaking education with other health disciplines who work with individuals experiencing pain can also assist in addressing preconceived notions about other professional groups and their scopes of practice.^40,45,95 Concerted efforts should be made to incorporate interactive, interdisciplinary learning opportunities that highlight the importance of, and skills involved in, collaborative care in the context of pain management. The collaborative approach to care standard embeds these principles as a requirement for high quality pain management education and provides guidance on strategies that can meet this goal. 

^{Note: All references supporting this information can be found in the full Australian Standards for Health Practitioner Pain Management Education document.}