Deconstructing One Medical School's Pain Curriculum: I. Content Analysis.

Objective: Inventory one medical school's first- and second-year pain-related curriculum in order to explore opportunities to teach about pain both as a social, population-based process and as a neuron-centered phenomenon.

Design: Deconstruction of pain-related curricular content through a detailed content inventory and analysis by students and faculty.

Setting and Subjects: University-affiliated US medical school.

Methods: Detailed inventory and content analysis of first- and second-year curricular materials.

Results: The inventory of pain content showed fragmentation, mostly presenting it as a symptom without an underlying framework.

Conclusion: Analysis of one medical school's pain-related curricular materials reveals opportunities for a more unified perspective that includes pain as a widespread disease state (not merely a symptom) and to provide an emphasis in the curriculum consistent with pain's public health burden.