There are four types of pain services included in Painaustralia’s Pain Services Directory. They include:
- Multidisciplinary pain centre
- Pain management services
- Pain practices and
- Single modality or specific aged group clinics.
Appropriately qualified and licensed pain specialists must be Fellows of the Faculty of Pain Medicine (the professional organisation for specialist pain medicine physicians).
Some healthcare practitioners (both physicians and non-physicians) have specialty training in pain management such as members of the Australian Pain Society (The Australian Chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain). The Australian Pain Society is a multidisciplinary professional association whose mission is to advance pain prevention, management and clinical practice.
Adherence to the highest standards of ethics and professionalism is expected of all pain practitioners, regardless of facility or practice.
- Multidisciplinary pain centres are staffed by physician and non-physician healthcare providers. The director of the facility is a physician or someone with appropriate medical training. The team includes a psychiatrist or psychologist and there are least three medical specialties and at least two non-physician healthcare disciplines (e.g. physiotherapy, nursing, social work) available.
A distinguishing feature of a multidisciplinary pain centre is that the clinicians from different specialties work together in the same space and communicate with each other on a frequent and scheduled basis about patients, pain centre policies and procedures, and therapies offered in the pain centre.
Care is delivered in a programmed and coordinated manner, and is patient-centred, up-to-date, evidence-based, and safe. Clinical activity must be supervised by an appropriately trained and licensed clinical director with expertise in pain management.
All the providers in the centre should be appropriately qualified and licensed in their specialty and should be knowledgeable about the contributions of biological, psychological, and social/environmental factors to pain problems.
- Pain Management Services - the director of the facility is a physician or someone with appropriate medical training. The team includes a psychiatrist or psychologist and there are least two non-physician healthcare disciplines (e.g. physiotherapy, nursing, social work) available. If analgesic procedures are performed, a registered nurse will be present.
- A pain practice can be a single healthcare provider licensed in their speciality with pain medicine training or equivalent. The provider is knowledgeable about the biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to pain problems.
- Single Modality or Specific Age Group Clinics - single modality therapy programs will be identified by the modality they utilise (e.g. 'Biofeedback Clinic') rather than the term 'pain clinic'. Multidisciplinary programs that specialise in one region of the body or a specific type of pain will be identified accordingly in their title (e.g. 'Multidisciplinary Headache Clinic' or 'Multidisciplinary Spine Clinic').
Clinics designed to meet the needs of a specific age group, such as paediatric, adolescent, or older patients, must be able to demonstrate leadership by qualified specialists in the age-related field (e.g. paediatrics, gerontology), and involve clinicians with specific experience and training with the targeted population. Clinicians in these establishments are expected to have a thorough understanding of discipline-related influences on pain problems.