TRAINEE NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2016
· Trainee On-Call Rotas
· RAPM Appointments
· Upcoming Faculty Events
· FPM Study Day: Musculoskeletal System Examination for Diagnosing Pain Problems
· Upcoming External Events
· FFPMRCA MCQ Examination
· FFPMRCA SOE Examination
· RAPM Forum
· A Career in Pain Management
· Post-CCT Fellowships
· Case Reports
· Case Reports Prize
· FFPMRCA Exam Example Questions
· Trainee Written Reflections
· Trainee Secondments
· Training Centres Review
· Training Concerns
· Acute Pain Working Party
· Essential Pain Management (EPM)
· Essential Pain Management Lite (EPM Lite)
· e-PAIN
· Useful Resources
· Transmitter
· RCoA Career Day 2017
· Contacting the Faculty
· The Future
Dear Trainees,
Trainee On-Call Rotas
RAPMs are required to complete bi-annual reports and one of the major concerns raised in these was the impact of on-call rotas on daytime training. In order for the Faculty to monitor this please could you kindly complete this survey.
Please note this is not the same as the annual trainee survey which ensures that the quality of training meets requirements.
RAPM Appointments
Dr Richard Griffiths will be stepping down as RAPM for South Thames. The process of appointing his successor is underway and we will advise as soon as they have been appointed.
Upcoming Faculty Events
FFPMRCA Exam Tutorials
Thank you to all who attended the FFPMRCA exam tutorials in March. The next exam tutorial will be taking place at the RCoA on Friday 9th September. The day will cover the following topics:
Ø Examination overview
Ø Psychology of Pain & Psychological Interventions
Ø Overview of Paediatric Pain
Ø Anatomy Relevant to Pain Medicine Interventions
Ø Addiction, Dependence, Tolerance & Pharmacology of Opioids
Ø VIVA practice
Ø Pharmacology
Bookings are now open on the FPM website.
FPM Annual Meeting
The 9th FPM Annual Meeting will be taking place on Friday 2nd December and attendance is strongly encouraged.
FPM Study Day: Musculoskeletal System Examination for Diagnosing Pain Problems
This study day is scheduled for 15th June at the RCoA. The programme can be viewed on the FPM website and bookings are now open. The cost for trainees is £140.
Upcoming External Events
Date / Event / Organiser10th-12th May 2016 / Annual Scientific Meeting / British Pain Society
26th May / 4th Perioperative Acute Pain Study Day / Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
17th June / Research/Paediatric
(Dr Suellen Walker) / Education Steering Group of the London Pain Training Advisory Group
24th June / 8th Annual North England Pain Medicine Group Meeting / North England Pain Medicine Group Meeting
27th-30th June / The Power of the Mind in Pain Philosophy & Ethics SIG Annual Meeting / British Pain Society
30th June - 2nd July / Clinical Management of Chronic Pain – ‘A Practical Approach’ / Pain Relief Foundation
14th July / NHS Plan/Commissioning: Understanding Funding/Issues for Prospective New Consultants
(Dr Ashish Shetty) / Education Steering Group of the London Pain Training Advisory Group
For further information on events or formal teaching taking place in your region, please contact your RAPM or Jyoti Chand ().
FFPMRCA MCQ Examination
The next MCQ exam will be taking place on 31st August. Applications will open on 20th June and close on 4th August and the fee is yet to be confirmed.
FFPMRCA SOE Examination
The next SOE exam will be taking place on 18th August. Applications will open on 29th August and close on 22nd September. The examination fee is yet to be confirmed.
RAPM Forum
The next meeting will be held at the College on Thursday 17th November. If you have any issues you would like to have raised, please discuss this with your RAPM.
A Career in Pain Management
The Faculty is always looking to expand this webpage which provides guidance to trainees, so if you are interested in providing your career story, or sharing helpful tips and experiences with other trainees then please contact Jyoti.
Post-CCT Fellowships
The Faculty would be grateful if you could provide details of any post-CCT fellowships available in your training hospital as this would be a useful resource for trainees nationwide to find out the different types of fellowships available. Please use the attached form to provide details of post-CCT fellowships and return to Dr Sheila Black. These will then be added to the website.
Case Reports
Please note that case reports need to be submitted by month 9 of your training programme and the Faculty recommends all trainees begin thinking about their case reports in month 6 of a training programme. For further information on the recommendations the Faculty have made for trainees during the one year training programme, you can view our step-by-step guide on our website.
Case Reports Prize
The Faculty will be awarding the 2016 Case Report Prize for the highest scoring case report submitted between 1st August 2015 and 31st July 2016 as a requirement of a normal Advanced Pain Training year.For further information, please visit the FPM website.
FFPMRCA Exam Example Questions
Further examples of FFPMRCA Exam questions have been added to the FPM website. You will also find other resources on this webpage such as exam topic list and revision guide.
Trainee Written Reflections
Please see attached a letter from Health Education England regarding written reflections and ensuring no patient identifiable information is included in these.
Trainee Secondments
The GMC recently provided the College with feedback indicating that a significant number of Out of Programme Training (OOPT) applications were being withdrawn because the post applied for was in a location already approved for training. As a result the RCoA sought to clarify a list of approved locations in order to reduce the number of unnecessary applications and the associated workload. The GMC responded by producing a list of approved locations on their website. The GMC have confirmed that this list will be updated fortnightly.
If a trainee wishes to go outside of the local training programme to an approved location then this would be considered a secondment rather than an OOPT and this application form will need to be completed. OOPT application forms will only be required when the post is in a location not listed on the GMC website, the RCoA understands that local processes may still require College approval for this secondment. As a result, approval has been delegated to the local College representative - the Regional Advisor. There is a space on the document for the Regional Advisor to sign to say that the post has been discussed with them and that they agree that the post forms part of a balanced training programme.
For all future secondments could you please send Secondment Notification Forms to alongside a copy of a job description so that there is a record of approval, as well as for our own data collection purposes.
Training Centres Review
As part of quality assurance procedures, the Faculty have asked RAPMs to review the Advance Pain Training centres in their region on a triennial basis to ensure they are able to meet the requirements of the training programme. The information collected should also show prospective trainees, trainees and consultants the opportunities available in each region. Further information can be found on our website.
Providing Advanced Pain Training – Guidance Document
A new revised edition of this guidance document is now available on the FPM website.
Training Concerns
It is important to the Faculty that all training centres meet the requirements of training programmes and as a quality assurance procedure we have asked RAPMs to highlight any issues or concerns trainees may be experiencing. If there are any issues or concerns you would like to raise, please contact your RAPM.
Acute Pain Working Party
The Working Party is currently working on amendments to the curriculum which will be forwarded to the GMC for approval. Working Party are working on collating a list of Acute Pain Leads nationwide and data from the Acute Pain census will be available soon.
Essential Pain Management (EPM)
Dr Karen Gilmore successfully delivered two courses in Malawi on 29th February and 7th March. A report for this visit will be available on the FPM website soon. Dr Clare Roques and Dr Jane Mills will be delivering a course in Madagascar on 2nd May 2016 with the assistance of Mercy Ships. The Group are also in discussion with instructors in Zambia and Nigeria and further information will be provided soon.
As part of these courses, the EPM UK Working Group have piloted cascading USBs with the EPM slides for participants to use as reference once the course has been delivered. In future, these will include some relevant e-PAIN sessions.
For information on past visits by the EPM UK Working Group, please visit the FPM website.
Essential Pain Management Lite (EPM Lite)
EPM Lite has successfully been piloted and courses continue to be delivered in 7 medical schools. EPM Lite was also receiving interest from professionals other than medical students such as GPs, nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists and multi-professional teaching is currently under review by the EPM UK Working Group.
An EPM Lite webpage will be available soon detailing information on past courses, feedback and recommendations of how to set up a first course.
Dr Michael O’Connor, EPM Lite Lead, will also be presenting at the 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting on 10-12 May.
e-PAIN
Dr Douglas Justins has stepped down as e-PAIN Lead and has been succeeded by Dr Douglas Natusch as Lead and Dr Rhian Lewis as Deputy Lead. The e-PAIN group will be reviewing e-PAIN modules currently available.
There are currently 1,473 active users of e-PAIN. Further information can be found on the FPM website including a list of modules currently available.
Please encourage your colleagues and trainees to register as it may be a useful resource for them.
Useful Resources
· Core Standards for Pain Management Services in the UK
· Opioids Aware - a resource for patients and healthcare professionals to support prescribing of opioid medicines for pain
· Right Patient, Right Professionals, Right Time Initiative
o The Future for People with Chronic Pain abriefing document for commissioners, politicians and national stakeholders.
o Helping People with Chronic Pain,a rallying call for patients, relatives and carers.
Please help us spread the word further by sharing these resources with your colleagues, patients and commissioning bodies.
Transmitter
You should have received a hard copy of the Spring edition of Transmitter. The online edition will be available within the next couple of weeks. If you have any content ideas or would like to contribute to the Autumn edition then please contact Laura ().
RCoA Career Day 2017
Dr Cole will be presenting a talk on Pain Medicine at a RCoA career day for sixth form students. Further details will be provided in the next RAPM update.
Contacting the Faculty
The Faculty would recommend that if you have any queries regarding your training, you contact your RAPM in the first instance. This is because they will have a greater understanding of local issues which may be affecting you, and they are more likely to be able to advise on a solution as a consequence. However, the Faculty are very happy to advise where possible and we would encourage trainees to get in touch with the FPM team at .
The Future
We hope that you have found this newsletter useful. Please do let us know your thoughts on this. Also, do note that previous trainee newsletters can be found on our website.
If you have any ideas of what might be useful to include in the future then please do get in touch – we would welcome your suggestions!
Best wishes,
The FPM Team