​What?

​Pain is the most common reason for patients to see their general practitioner. A substantial proportion of adults (1 in 5) in Europe suffer from chronic pain that seriously affects the quality of their social and working lives – and its inadequate management constitutes a major healthcare problem. On a national level 23% of Belgians suffered from chronic pain in a large European survey. The bio psychosocial model of chronic pain recognizes chronic pain as a combination of physical dysfunction, beliefs, coping strategies, distress, illness behavior and social interactions. Since the introduction of the bio psychosocial model, treatment of chronic pain has become multimodal and multidisciplinary, with the aim of maximizing pain reduction, quality of life, independence and mobility. This multidisciplinary approach warrants focused knowledge, skills and attitudes of the caregivers.

The general objective of the education in Algology is to educate qualified specialists in the control of pain in its widest sense. During this postgraduate education the physician gains the necessary scientific knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to provide an excellent patientcare to patients with complex pain-issues. The student gains a profound insight in complex forms of acute, subacute and chronic pain. The student has to develop additional communicative, social, technical and manual skills to evaluate patients on a multidisciplinary level and to function in a multidisciplinary team. In addition, the student has to be able to apply his own specific expertise from previous specialized education in a multimodal treatment plan. The content of the education is organized based on the CanMEDS competence-domain: physician, scientist, communicator.

For more information, you can visit the website of the programme.

For who?

The Interuniversity Certificate/Postgraduate Studies in Algology is designed to teach advanced and multidisciplinary knowledge and skills of pain management to physicians in hospitals, pain centers and in private practice. The additional qualification designation can be attained by qualified doctors.

Students should hold the following degree issued by a university of the Flemish Community, or by a university of the French-speaking Community:

• Master of Medicine

The "Postgraduate Studies in Algology" is accessible to holders of a doctor's title issued by the European Union. The other applications will be evaluated by the steering committee.

Students can also be admitted on the basis of a diploma obtained abroad, on the condition of approval of the Steering Committee and of compliance with the language requirements set for this study programme. In addition, for students for whom a visa is required , an application file for the admission on the basis of a foreign diploma must be submitted at the university where they want to enroll, and after successful completion of the admission procedure, they will receive a letter of admission of the university concerned.

Minimum 20 and maximum 40 students can attend the programme.

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