Standards for pain medicine

We're responsible for setting the standards of clinical practice for pain medicine in Australia and New Zealand. Our activities in this area include developing professional documents, issuing safety alerts; and overseeing incident reporting activities.

Professional documents

Policies (denoted CP) are documents that formally state a principle, plan and/or course of action that is prescriptive and mandatory.

Position statements (denoted PS) are documents that describe where the college stands on a particular issue. This may include areas that lack clarity or where opinions vary. A position statement is not definitive, prescriptive or binding.

Guidelines (denoted PG) are documents that offer advice on a particular subject, that:

Are ideally based on best practice recommendations and information.
May be based on available evidence and/or expert consensus.
Are not prescriptive.

PS01(PM) Opioid analgesics in chronic non-cancer pain
PDF
319.55 KB

Statement regarding the use of opioid analgesics in patients with chronic non-cancer pain

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PS01(PM) (Appendix) Opioid dose equivalence calculation table
PDF
290.07 KB

Opioid Dose Equivalence Calculation Table

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PS10(PM) "Medicinal Cannabis" and chronic non-cancer pain
pdf
493.96 KB

Statement on "Medicinal Cannabis" with particular reference to its use in the management of patients with chronic non-cancer pain

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PS10(PM)BP "Medicinal Cannabis" and chronic non-cancer pain Background paper
pdf
984.38 KB

Statement on "Medicinal Cannabis" with particular reference to its use in the management of patients with chronic non-cancer pain (background paper)

Prof doc background paper
PS11(PM) Procedures in pain medicine clinical care standard
PDF
545.23 KB

Procedures in Pain Medicine Clinical Care Standard

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PS12(PM) Ketamine and chronic non-cancer pain
PDF
315.93 KB

Position statement on the use of ketamine in the management of chronic non-cancer pain

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PS12(PM) BP Ketamine in chronic non-cancer pain Background paper
pdf
403.9 KB

Position statement on the use of ketamine in the management of chronic non-cancer pain (background paper)

Prof doc background paper
PG13(PM) Return to practice – pain medicine
PDF
305.12 KB

Guideline on return to pain medicine practice for specialist pain medicine physicians 2023

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PG13(PM)BP Return to practice – pain medicine Background paper
PDF
249.22 KB

Guideline on return to pain medicine practice for specialist pain medicine physicians (background paper) 2023

Prof doc background paper
PS14(PM) Responsibility for co-prescription of oral and intrathecal opioids
PDF
281.13 KB

Statement on the responsibility for co-prescription of oral and intrathecal opioids 2023

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PS15(PM) Statement on pelvic pain and endometriosis (PILOT)
pdf
267.82 KB

Statement on the clinical approach to persistent pelvic pain including endometriosis-associated pain 2024

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PS15(PM)BP Statement on pelvic pain and endometriosis Background paper (PILOT)
PDF
385.41 KB

Statement on the clinical approach to persistent pelvic pain including endometriosis-associated pain (background paper) 2024

Prof doc background paper