Shifting perspectives on pain management after an interprofessional international service learning experience: A qualitative assessment of pilot data

ABSTRACT

Interprofessional education and international service learning (ISL) experiences are increasing in healthcare education and have the potential to broaden healthcare providers’ strategies to manage patients’ pain. After the addition of a physical therapy (PT) cohort to an existing interprofessional ISL, survey data was collected for program evaluation. Responses indicated altered ideation regarding the role of PT in pain management, and this theme was investigated further. Following two one-week interprofessional ISL experiences in Honduras in 2015 (Y1) and 2016 (Y2), participating students and preceptors in pharmacy, physician assistant and osteopathic medicine and Y1 PT preceptors were surveyed regarding their impressions of the PT cohort and the PT profession in general. Researchers performed thematic analysis to identify trends in responses, yielding three themes regarding PT’s role in pain management: Patient Empowerment (46.2%), Management of Musculoskeletal Pain (42.3%), and Alternatives to Pharmacological Pain Management (11.5%). Results suggest that participating in an interprofessional ISL experience with a PT cohort encourages consideration of non-pharmacological methods to treat pain, including referral to PT to address musculoskeletal pain, and empowering patients to prevent or self-manage pain. These findings may be especially significant for under-resourced communities.

KEYWORDS:

• International service learning
• interprofessional education
• opioid abuse
• pain management
• physical therapy
• rural health

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ret. Col. William Pickard, Patrick Murphy, PT, DPT, and Romin Ghassemi, PT, DPT, for their assistance with this project.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.