"Having a framework in the form of these standards will be so helpful for us to consider what we do at RANZCOG, then to align with our colleagues across disciplines and craft groups to get everyone better faster!"
So, I have a vision of Australian clinicians being the best pain neuroscience informed clinicians in the world! Go big or go home, right?
In the age of the democratisation of knowledge, there is really no reason why we cannot upskill in this crucial problem which affects 1/5 Australians. We need to start somewhere with “what should we learn” and I am so proud to have represented RANZCOG (Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) in the development of this set of standards.
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug" (with thanks to Rudyard Kipling who said this to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1923), and so pain care starts with communication. We are well aware of the impact of language on care in obstetrics and gynaecology, especially informed by the recent NSW birth trauma inquiry, and have built this into our advanced training module for Persistent Pelvic Pain. Specifically – we need to agree on what we know to be true and employ shared decision-making. We know that person-centred care is crucial in pain management and so, to this end, we also have consumer reps on our committees and guideline development groups.
Our regional meetings, our guidelines, our patient information handouts, the curriculum, now all have a “pain lens” so we are on message with the science. Having a framework in the form of these standards will be so helpful for us to consider what we do at RANZCOG, then to align with our colleagues across disciplines and craft groups to get everyone better faster!
