Creation of a Universal Pediatric Pain Education Program for Third World Healthcare Workers Using the CIPP Model for Improvement

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, and the International Association for the Study of Pain indicate pediatric pain is a significant global health issue, especially in the third world. Pain is the leading cause of patients seeking medical attention in the third world. Undertreated pain can lead to a lifetime of severe disability. Therefore, proper pain management is of great worldwide interest. Many studies have identified a lack of education as a barrier to pain management. Objective: The purpose of this project is to ameliorate the dearth of pain education amongst third world healthcare workers. With expert input, this project aimed to create a universal and comprehensive pediatric pain teaching program that any Western-trained healthcare worker can utilize in a third world healthcare setting to help the local staff learn about pain. This program was shared for dissemination with Health Volunteers Overseas. Design: This is a program evaluation employing the Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) design used to determine useful updates to a comprehensive educational tool created by the primary investigator. Participants: Western-trained healthcare professionals with backgrounds in third world healthcare, and educational experts. Measurements: Educational and third world healthcare setting experts were surveyed. They were asked four open-ended questions, two binary questions and two demographical questions. Common themes from the open-ended answers were identified and illustrated with Mind Maps. Results: All experts surveyed responded with a combined 79 years of multidisciplinary experience guiding feedback. Common themes on the project's accuracy, successful attributes and areas for improvement were identified, and the teaching program was updated accordingly. The experts all felt the teaching program contains accurate information and has the potential to improve pediatric pain treatment in the third world. Conclusion: The purpose of this program evaluation was to create a clinical teaching tool that was refined according to expert commentary. Areas for future research include gathering feedback from a more varied group of experts, and also utilization of the teaching program in the third world and assessing its effectiveness with the tools provided.