Palliative Care
Knowledge about pain and suffering at the end of life has increased exponentially over the past few decades. Nonetheless, many patients continue to experience severe, debilitating pain at the end of their life. The concept of "pain" needs to extend beyond the usual concept of pain, which is a purely sensory experience. The true totality of pain experienced by the dying patient typically includes multiple physical pains in addition to emotional, social, and spiritual pain. Addressing this "total pain" requires an integrated biopsychosocial module that is taught in many aspect of family medicine training.