Friends of the European Pain Federation,

Our first newsletter of the year is also one of the most important ones right now. What a start to the year 2020.

The new year has brought with it many challenges and special circumstances with how we see collaborations, teamwork, congress attendance and priorities of people around the world. Coronavirus has affected most of our colleagues and friends in their day to day life as well as in their organisations.

Even though we will not have a congress this year we have had many activities that have been postponed or had to be rescheduled due to COVID-19. Our yearly exams of the European Pain Federation Diploma in Pain Medicine (EDPM),  and the European Pain Federation Diploma in Pain Physiotherapy (EDPP) which were supposed to be held in April this year have been postponed until further notice and attendance to meetings and congresses have been paused. IASP has announced to reschedule their congress for next year, changing plans for our Council meeting, as well as creating a dent in our previously warm collaborations.

The decision from IASP to postpone their congress until summer next year has directly impacted our congress. We were planning on holding our congress in Dublin at the end of September 2021 and will now have to rethink how to organize the event in order to be able to give you all an interesting, yet original topic and theme. The unilateral decision from IASP came as a surprise. I am disappointed about the course of events and would have expected some more collaborative efforts and shared initiatives to find mutual mitigating solutions. Nevertheless, new times demand new measures, and we are looking into very exciting ways of having our congress next year which aligns with how the federation was planning to move forwards in these more digitalized ways of living these days. The theme of the congress, as well as execution of the congress, will go very well hand in hand and we are looking forward to present it to you all once the scientific program of the congress is completed.

In other news, there has been a kick-off for a Task Force created specifically for COVID-19 in order to keep our community updated with the relevant, scientific news regarding the situation and how to treat our patients affected by the virus. The Task Force will disseminate summaries of peer-reviewed articles relevant to Pain management through the EFIC website and we will make sure to be the source of available news for all of you out there. If you have any interesting scientific articles or news happening in your countries, please send them to for us to review and publish on the website.

Often negative developments bring with them some form of positive change, and the best way of handling quarantine, distress and worry is by trying to look at the positive angles of the situation as well.

The situation has brought people together, the care for our risk group patients as well as elderly is shown by the universal effort of protecting them, and we all learn to value the small things we take for granted, such as outdoor living, socializing and the importance of friends and family.

There will indeed be a new way of living after the dust from COVID-19 settles, but also new possibilities of how to keep everyone connected and involved even through the distancing screen of your computer.

Finally, I want to say a big Thank you to our community of healthcare professionals who are now in the front line helping everyone who needs them. Their heroic work will be remembered for years after COVID-19 is defeated.

Please keep safe, until we speak again,

Bart Morlion
President European Pain Federation, EFIC.

EFIC organized a useful webinar to guide potential attendees, which was featured with a conversation between Prof. Harriet Wittink, Exam Director, and Deborah Davey, who took the Examination in 2019. Read more

EFIC Fellowship’s experience by Aleksei Potaturko

We are happy to share the experience of one of our EFIC Fellows, Aleksei Potaturko, who had the opportunity to attend the EFIC fellowship at the Leuven Centre for Algology & Pain Management of the University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium. Read more

The European Pain Federation EFIC and Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) are strengthening their links, aiming to bring together the healthcare professionals and the patients. This is starting quite practically, with PAE joining EFIC in their offices in the heart of the EU quarter. Sharing this working space and discussing ideas and projects more frequently is going to be the start of a new era of collaboration. Read more

The Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) 2020 survey

Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) 2020 survey about how people use the new electronic devices/services to manage their health is now available! You are invited to fill in this short survey through this link, where you will find the survey available in 16 languages. The results of this survey will give PAE and its members input to help improve E-Health and M-Health apps for the benefit of the patients. To learn more, click  here