Synne Wing Venuti, MSW, is the Product Manager of Pain Management Intervention and Prevention Programs at Inflexxion, Inc., where she manages the PainEDU.org and painACTION.com websites, the Inflexxion Health series publications, and the Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain (SOAPP®) and the Current Opioid Misuse Measure (COMM)® patient assessment tools. Ms. Venuti has worked on NIH and pharmaceutical company-funded pain grants at Inflexxion since 2003. Her prior clinical experience includes working with adults with mental illness, and conducting psychiatric assessments in an Emergency Department.

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Questions

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Evelyn Corsini, MSW:

I understand that PainEDU will offer a registration scholarship to PAINWeek 2012 as it did last year. Why does PainEDU do this?

Synne Wing Venuti, MSW: The idea of a scholarship occurred to me when Dr. Kevin Zacharoff, our Vice President of Medical Affairs, and I gave a talk about opioid Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies, (REMS), with clinical staff working in community health centers in the Mountain Plain States a couple of years ago. We learned that few people there had heard about REMS at all; I realized that they worked in clinical settings with very challenging populations and few resources for training to improve management of chronic pain. Therefore we developed the idea of the PainEDU scholarship to attend PAINWeek as a way to provide a resource for clinicians who need it the most.

We chose the PAINWeek conference because our pain team at Inflexxion believes that their vision is most closely aligned with ours. Both PainEDU and PAINWeek are geared toward the same audience: The front line, non-expert clinician who wants to learn more about best practices in pain management. PAINWeek 2012 will run from September 5-8 2012 at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. PAINWeek is the nation’s largest conference for frontline practitioners interested in pain management. Last year over 1,500 health care practitioners attended.

EC: What was the result of PainEDU’s offer of a scholarship to PAINWeek in 2011?

SWV: We were delighted with the response we received to the offer of a scholarship for the conference registration. We requested essays and received many good submissions. Reading them confirmed what we thought: There are health care providers who want and need more education about pain management who face barriers to getting it.

Since we had so many compelling essays we had a very difficult time selecting our winners. We were delighted that so many of them were able to attend the conference, where they received special recognition at the PAINWeek 2011 Opening Session.

EC: What is the plan for a PainEDU scholarship for 2012?

SWV: We will award 10 scholarships to cover the cost of registration for the PAINWeek 2012 conference. One grand prize winner will receive a stipend for the cost of conference travel and accommodations, up to $1,000.

EC: Who is eligible to apply and what is the application process?

SWV: In order to be eligible to apply, scholarship entrants must be:

• Actively involved in health care or health care education
• Registered users of PainEDU.org
• At least 18 years old
• Not industry-employed
• Not a past winner of a PainEDU/PAINWeek scholarship

There is no specific application form. Applicants apply by writing and contributing an original essay about the value of the scholarship to them. All essays must be received by midnight EDT Monday April 30, 2012.

EC: What obligations will scholarship applicants have?

SWV: We will make the same request of applicants this year as we did last year.

• Scholarship applicants agree to have their essays published on PainEDU.org
• Scholarship applicants agree to be interviewed by PAINWeek and PainEDU.org staff, if asked
• If possible, scholarship winners will attend an Award Ceremony at PAINWeek

EC: What are the essay requirements?

SWV: The essays may vary in length, but we expect them to be no more than 2,000 words. Each essay should include:

• The applicant’s full name, email address, job title and job description
• The name and address of the health care setting
• A description of the setting, patient population, and the applicant’s role in the organization
• How the applicant expects that attending PAINWeek 2012 will enhance their pain management skills and knowledge, and how this would be used in their health care setting
• Barriers to pain management education and training that the applicant experiences
• Other relevant information about the applicant’s educational and professional goals

Essays should be sent by email to: scholarship@painedu.org.

EC: Who will choose the winners and when will they be notified?

SWV: Scholarship winners will be selected by PainEDU staff and will be notified by email by June 15, 2012. For more information on the PAINWeek 2012 conference go to their website: http://www.painweek.org.