Macquarie University online Pain Management Course

Get in quick people, for those who are waiting to get into pain courses, this would be a very good alternative, and done in your own home, you can still participate in the other one offered when the time for your appointment arrives, but these courses do help in your pain journey, there is always something new, so are journeys are never over, we are continually learning new techniques and approaches, as well as medical treatments.

Don

I did this course earlier this year and found it very easy to do and very useful, particularly if you are struggling with accepting your pain issue, as I was. I was actually surprised at how helpful it was, so please give it a go if you are unsure.

Thank you lindajane. It's always great to hear some positive feedback from people who have actually done it. I think it is still in trial phase, so it would still be free as far as I know.

Mary

I absolutely recommend this e-course. I completed it last year and still have access to all the material for another 12 months.
It's been a life saver for me! I'll regularly go back over the course and re do sections again.

If you have the chance to apply for this wonderful, informative course then grab it by the horns and I hope your application is successful.
These sort of opportunities don't come along every day... FOR FREE!!

Chronic pain may not go away but we sure can learn to manage it.

Thank you Mary for putting this here. I have applied. I will let you know if I get in.

They rang me today. It looks like I'm in. Looking forward to it. Thanks again for posting this here, Mary.

That's great news jrp! So glad to be of help. I hope you enjoy the course.

Mary

I'm sure it will be very helpful. I unfortunately can't seem to get into any of the face to face courses because, as a health professional, everyone running them thinks I already know it all and won't get anything out of them. But that is so far from the truth it's not funny.

That must be so infuriating!

Really sorry to hear that you are having to put up with this JRP. This is utterly ridiculous. How can they not know that pretty much all health professionals are taught close to zip about the long term affects of chronic pain. It is only now in these last few years that there has been any positive move toward teaching this stuff in med schools. And even then, they are not dedicating a 'School of Pain' in most universities.
I think Notre Dame in WA was the first to create a school of pain, which only came about because a rich man donated the millions of dollars to put this school in place.

Is there no way you can get around this?
I would be tearing my hair out, but also getting blind bloody mad too, if I was told I should know it all, just because I work in the same industry somewhere.

That's just as stupid as telling an Electrician who wires up brand new homes only, to go wire up a space rocket or some computer controlled high tech machine. He works in the electrical industry, but knows nothing about these other jobs.

Peter

I have to say I've not been best pleased about it, but to be honest I've been too beaten down to do much about it until recently.

The last time I studied a course about pain was in 1996. It covered acute pain, and only the physical aspects as they were known at the time. As everyone here knows the mechanisms behind chronic pain are very different! Psychological and behavioural aspects weren't considered in the course at all. So really I know very little more than the average person on the street, and a whole lot less than many people.

What a ridiculous situation, here they are attacking health professionals because they are supposedly over treating chronic pain patients with opiates, they go on to blame them for the lack of understanding in dealing with chronic pain, they also say more people need to be trained and more pain clinics need to be opened for the treatment of chronic pain patients, and then to hear they made that statement saying just because you are a health professional you should automatically know, how much more contradictory can they get, the mind boggles sometimes with the sheer stupidity made by those higher in the chain.
jrp I hope this course helps you immensely, it may not be the face to face experience, but the course design follows the same teachings, a couple of bonuses being you can do it in your time, and you don't have to travel to get to one, if like most states parking is a problem around public hospitals, like the course I attended, most parking spots for the disabled are for 2 hrs, to go into the paid parking the cost is a minimum of $16 and a long walk, the course ran for 3 hrs, so you either paid for parking or risk a ticket.

Don

Yep, it is ridiculous, Don. I think this course will suit me very well. I've done a lot of my studies externally, so I'm used to that. And as you say, I don't have to get myself to a hospital and pay the exorbitant parking fees. Since my most recent accident I've also gone from being very social to being a bit of a hermit, and I find being around a lot of people very difficult. So it not being a face to face course is probably better for me at the moment.

Initially these courses are great, because you can do it at your own pace and don't need to suffer the issues that other people bring to a classroom type affair.

But I do have to say that when I went through the pain clinic at Fremantle Hospital, it was really good to sit down and talk with/to a bunch of people who spoke my language, who never judged me and who understood every word that came out of my mouth, even though they had different problems to me.

The one problem we had in common, was the chronic pain and because it was the most pervasive of all our problems, it took up the greater portion of our thoughts and feelings. So like all humans, we want to get this crap off of our chests and talking to others over a cuppa about this stuff, is just so validating and a really good experience.

You finally feel respected and understood!

Support groups are great for this, but they are very tough to run. This is why we need govt funded community support groups, which will go a long way to getting CP sufferers plugged back into the community, instead of us being locked away in our respective little prisons.

Peter

I've just been to my first meeting of a local pain support group. It was quite good, but I'm not sure I'm ready for too much face to face as my PTSD is still a problem.

But I agree - we do need funding for more local support groups.