Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, ACSW, LCSW, OSW-C is a Senior Research Specialist within the Nursing Research and Education Department, at the City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA. Her clinical work, research and publications focus on transdisciplinary palliative care education and symptom management, with a special emphasis upon underserved populations. She is a 2006-2007 Mayday Pain & Society Fellow. Information about applying for this year’s Fellowship is at the end of this article.

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Questions

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Pravin Pant:

What was your motivation for applying to the Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship: A Media and Policy Initiative?

Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, ACSW, LCSW, OSW-C: The Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for pain management professionals to enhance their skills as advocates and educators. It offers an on-site training in Washington DC followed by a six-month mentorship with a skilled media advocate. This personalized coaching helps you to achieve the goals you had identified at the beginning of the fellowship. The Mayday Foundation sees the fellowship as an investment with a long-term payback with the goal of reducing barriers to pain management.

As a social worker in the pain management field, I had noticed that there had not been previous social workers represented in the Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship. As we know, pain is a multidimensional experience with both mind and body impact. The field of pain management has been evolving to recognize the need to treat patients from a variety of different disciplines. Theresa Altilio, MSW, ACSW, LCSW, from Beth Israel Hospital, in New York, and I were motivated to apply for the fellowship from our desire to represent social work as an integral part of pain management. We were delighted to be the first social workers selected to become Mayday fellows. Our goal was to increase our ability to train social workers about their role in pain management.

Application for the fellowship is very competitive, and fellows are chosen who have previous media experience. A key goal of the fellowship is to further improve each person’s credibility and expertise among the media and the public.

PP: What were some of the specific skills that an applicant can expect to gain from the four-day training in Washington, D.C. that is part of the Fellowship?

SOG: The goal of the Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship is to better equip leaders in the pain management field with the communication and advocacy skills necessary to effect policy change and impact the lives of those in pain. The intensive training in Washington, D.C. emphasized communication and leadership skills in the context of pain management.

As fellows, we worked closely with distinguished media and communication experts to refine our writing and public speaking skills. The impact of our outreach and advocacy efforts is far greater if we can better communicate issues in pain management to the general public, health care providers and policymakers.

We were given the opportunity to connect with representatives from several prominent players in the media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and National Public Radio. This was a great opportunity for us to hone our skills as pain management experts for the media and the public. The importance of educating policymakers was continually emphasized in our training. We spent time at the Capitol meeting with members of the House of Representatives, where we were able to discuss health care policy and the need for improved pain management.

PP: As a social worker in pain management, how have you been able to incorporate some of your skills and training as a Mayday fellow into your current work?

SOG: We developed an annual course at the City of Hope National Medical Center entitled Promoting Excellence in Pain Management & Palliative Care for Social Workers. I am very pleased to report that in 2008 this course received an American Society on Aging-Healthcare and Aging Network Award for "Innovation and Quality".

Earlier in May 2008, Theresa Altilio, Yvette Colon, PhD, MSW and I facilitated the first Pain Plenary session ever held for the Association of Oncology of Social Work’s 24th annual conference. It was an advanced practice session designed to encourage clinicians to integrate the strengths and perspectives of their social work education into their role in pain and symptom management. Our goal was to reinforce that all oncology social workers have a role in the provision of pain management.

PP: What are the logistical considerations that potential applicants may want to keep in mind if they are interested in applying for the fellowship?

SOG: Only six fellows are chosen each year; so the application process is very selective. The Mayday Fund covers the costs of the four-day training in Washington, D.C., but the six-month fellowship itself requires a major time investment. You need to be sure that your employer will support this use of your time. The expectation is that you will work to achieve your goals during the course of the six-month fellowship. The fellowship offers you an opportunity to join a community of distinguished experts in pain management. The fellowship encourages regular communication, during and after your time in the program. You are continually encouraged to broaden your horizons and further develop your communication skills.

The deadline for application for the fellowship is June 15, 2008. You can get more information from their website: http://www.maydayfellows.org/application.html .