For Grace Action Plan

Over-all Objective

To improve the lives of women in pain through the collective actions of public awareness, healthcare professional education and public policy initiatives.

Public Awareness Campaign

Objective:
To bring awareness of the gender disparity to women in pain worldwide

Advocacy

Continue to circulate and promote the WIP petition as the primary vehicle (route) to our website and as a repository of tangible testimonials and feedback.

Reach out to various mission-matched organizations to partner and share resources to facilitate the widest possible platform for our agenda.

Reach out to various related (e.g., health-focused, ethnic community-focused, civil rights-focused, etc.) organizations to partner and share resources to facilitate the widest possible platform for our agenda.

Identify women in pain in all fifty states to serve as key liaisons to deliver and disseminate For Grace’s mission, petition and advocacy activities throughout their respective states.

Work with the key women in pain stakeholders in all fifty states to promote public rallies, marches, theatrical presentations, roundtable discussions and other public activities to reinforce the concerns surrounding the issues of women in pain, coinciding with their respective WIP awareness months and legislative informational hearings.

Establish regional WIP networks and/or a national network of women and other individuals sympathetic to the plight of women in pain (e.g., family members, friends, clinicians, health educators, etc.) to serve as key stakeholders, advocates, spokespersons, etc. to carry the For Grace mission and message to a mass audience and facilitate the widest possible platform for the For Grace agenda.

Communications

Develop a comprehensive, user-friendly website that will provide key information along with tools and resources to enable women in pain to take action and become better advocates for their pain care.

Impress upon mass media (TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, Internet) the importance of the For Grace agenda and evoke news features to bring information and inspire women in pain in the general public.

Develop and train key spokespersons (Women In Pain Leadership Circle) for public appearances, media interface, legislative testimonials, etc. to put a personal and clinical “face” to the issue.

Establish an effective, dedicated communications department responsible for the development of key message concepts, public/media relations strategies and interface, website content, etc.

Work with the key women in pain stakeholders in all fifty states to identify and collaborate with regional print and broadcast media to highlight stories of interests about local women in pain, produce public service announcements regarding the issue of women in pain, and to serve as a medium to bring the For Grace agenda to local communities.

Select the best of the women in pain stories to highlight in worldwide and national print, broadcast and Internet media.


Healthcare Professional Education Actions

Objective:
To inform, instruct and sensitize healthcare professionals on the particular concerns and needs of women in pain, including the gender disparity that exists in the assessment and treatment of women’s pain.

Education

Assist in developing provider education training modules to address the unique diagnosis, treatment and management needs of women in pain. 

Assist in developing provider sensitivity training modules to address those barriers which preclude women in pain from accessing quality healthcare, diagnosis and treatment, and to provide the necessary tools to overcome these barriers. 

Assist in developing and disseminating provider education training modules to address practice standards and protocols for the management of pain in women.

Assist in developing and disseminating provider education training modules to address gender bias, both intended and unintended, in the diagnosis and treatment of women in pain by both individual providers and the medical system. 

Assist in developing and disseminating provider education training modules to address cultural differences and nuances of women in pain from various ethnic minority, immigrant, disabled, poor, lesbian/bisexual/transgender and other communities, which profoundly affect the women’s illness and pain experiences, and institutional racism and other biases, both intended and unintended, by both individual providers and the medical system, which impact on the women’s pain diagnosis and treatment.

Tactics

Establish a working, collaborative relationship with professional healthcare organizations and associations for physicians, nurses, technicians and others who assist in the diagnosis and treatment of women in pain, as well as state and regional medical boards, in order to develop and disseminate provider education training programs to address the unique concerns and needs of women in pain as they relate to healthcare professionals.

Establish working, collaborative relationships with medical universities and colleges to encourage them to incorporate a comprehensive pain management curriculum as a requirement for students in their medical, nursing, dental and other healthcare-related degree programs.

Establish a working, collaborative relationship with community colleges and vocational programs to encourage them to incorporate a pain management curriculum as a requirement for their students in nursing (RN and LVN), nursing assistance programs, dental assistance, and other healthcare-related certificate and license programs.

Establish working relationships with organizations and agencies that are mission matched to create viable pain management continuing education programs and materials for healthcare professionals.

Develop a traveling/road exhibit for display at professional medical, nursing, public health, health education, and health advocacy conferences and meetings to facilitate the widest possible exposure to healthcare providers.


Legislative Actions

Objective:
Replicate the California model and facilitate WIP informational hearings and WIP awareness months in all fifty states (and as many cities and counties across the nation as possible) to bring awareness of the gender disparities in pain management and pain as a national health concern.

Legislation/Public Policy

Work with key liaisons in all fifty states to empower and inspire other women in pain to encourage their legislative representatives to hold WIP informational hearings and to pass WIP awareness months in their respective cities, counties and/or states.

Work to enact policy that requires comprehensive pain education for all healthcare practitioners during their university, college or vocational training.

Work to enact policy that requires completion of a comprehensive pain continuing medical education course for licensure renewal. 

Awareness

Assist in creating statewide pain task forces under the auspices of state health departments in all fifty states, to address the needs and concerns of pain physicians, pharmacists, pain control therapy manufacturers, hospital/clinic/nursing home administrators, and patients, including gender bias issues. 

Assist in creating community pain task forces under the auspices of regional health departments to address the needs and concerns of pain physicians and patients, including gender bias issues.

Assist in creating and conducting legislative awareness and education programs about women in pain designed to fully inform elected officials and their key staff members about women in pain, including gender biases in healthcare.

Assist in developing practice standards and protocols requiring appropriate pain assessment and diagnosis, and adequate pain management for all pain patients.