Seventy-four (68.5 % ) questionnaires were returned averaging 12.0 h of pain content with physiotherapy and veterinary science students receiving the highest input. Pain education accounted for less than 1 % of programme hours for some disciplines. Traditional teaching methods dominated (e.g. lectures 87.8 % ) and only two programmes had fully implemented the International Association for the Study of Pain¡¯s (IASP) curricula. Minimal pain-related standards were found from professional regulators and the quality assurance documents.
Pain education is variable across and within disciplines and interprofessional learning is minimal. Published curricula for pain education have been available for over 20 years but are rarely employed and pain is not a core part of regulatory and quality assurance standards for health professions. The hours of pain education is woefully inadequate given the prevalence and burden of pain. Recommendations include the introduction of pain-related educational standards across all professions, greater integration of pain content in undergraduate programmes and interprofessional approaches to the topic.