Pain Care Essentials : Oxford University Press : 9780199768912 : 0199768919 : 20 Feb 2020 : It may come as something of a surprise that pain, the most prevalent symptom in clinical practice, is not always addressed specifically in health professions training. Approximately one in six Americans lives with chronic pain in addition to the millions that experience acute pain each day. Half of older adults live with chronic pain-associated conditions, and about half of all healthcare visits are initiated because of pain. Despite this, reports indicate that the vast majority of health professions schools in the United States do not teach required courses on pain, and the total amount of content pertaining to pain is a fraction of a percent of the total. Almost certainly, the lack of education in coordinated, comprehensive, compassionate care for pain-associated conditions contributed to pervasive opioid over-prescribing and the ensuing wave of addiction and deaths that swept the country in t