ABSTRACT
This chapter provides healthcare professionals with an understanding of the role of education in cancer pain management. The management of cancer pain was a largely neglected problem until the development of the hospice movement in the 1960s. Despite this early recognition of the importance of cancer pain management, it is only over the last two decades that there have been major advances in this area. Post-registration education within clinical practice is usually referred to as continuing professional development. Clinical education increased in the 1980s with the introduction of one-off sessions on pain for healthcare professionals, which were usually delivered by healthcare professionals. A pain resource nurse (PRN) programme was developed in the USA and involved the education of all nurses throughout one hospital. The nurses were trained to create an awareness of pain and to provide commitment to pain management in every patient care area.
