When you work in healthcare instructional design, you learn this quickly: clinicians don’t need more information. They need clarity, relevance, and confidence - especially when it comes to topics like chronic pain and medicinal cannabis.
Recently, I coordinated an education session for GPs in regional WA, focused on medicinal cannabis in the context of chronic pain. What unfolded was a mirror held up to a fragmented system. One where access is uneven, policies are unclear, and clinicians are left to make high-stakes decisions without a map.
This post brings together what I designed, what we discussed, and what the latest evidence tells us about where education must go next.
The Scale of Pain: What the Numbers Say
More than 3.6 million Australians live with chronic pain (AIHW, 2020). In rural and remote areas, the experience is amplified by structural disadvantage.
According to the 2024 National Pain Survey:
1 in 2 rural patients have stopped working due to pain
45% waited longer than 3 years for diagnosis
8 in 10 reported significant mental health impacts
48.8% of rural respondents had experienced suicidal ideation
“I was told my pain was psychological. I was referred back and forth for years without support.”
— Survey respondent
[PLACEHOLDER: Insert infographic comparing rural vs metro pain data from CPA Report]
This isn’t just a treatment gap. It’s a system failure.
The Role of Medicinal Cannabis: Evidence Without the Hype
In our session, the SME presented reviewed findings from the QUEST Initiative—a 12-month prospective study tracking 2,327 Australian patients prescribed medicinal cannabis.
Findings included:
Statistically significant reductions in pain interference and sleep disturbance
Improvements in anxiety, fatigue, and HRQL scores
Over 40% reduced or ceased opioids
Mild to moderate side effects (most commonly sedation, dry mouth)
This wasn't promotional. It was peer-reviewed, Australian, and relevant to clinical conversations happening in Kalgoorlie, Broome, and beyond.
Designing for Decision-Making, Not Just Knowledge
Most CPD assumes clinicians need facts. But this session revealed something deeper: what GPs needed was permission to explore clinical uncertainty—legally, ethically, and practically.
So I designed it around three core principles:
Backwards Design – Start with what decisions GPs need to make
Case-Based Learning – Use high-context, localised scenarios
Legal Literacy – Address duty of care, consent, and TGA approvals
“My patients are already accessing cannabis. I’m just not confident I know when I should be involved—or when I legally must be.”
— Regional GP, WA
[PLACEHOLDER: Image of scenario slide or flowchart for cannabis prescribing decision pathway]
These reflections guided scenario design:
A FIFO worker with MSK pain and THC-detectable dosing
A patient seeking cannabis for anxiety-related insomnia
An Aboriginal elder managing arthritis who distrusts conventional pharmacology
The Quiet Weight of Duty of Care
The complexity of prescribing isn't just medical—it's legal. Drawing from my research on policy and duty of care in education, I see parallels in healthcare:
Risk is no longer confined to the consultation room
System ambiguity creates grey zones for clinicians
Regulatory literacy must be embedded in learning, not assumed
As outlined in WA Health guidance (2024), GPs must now understand TGA pathways, product quality, and patient driving obligations—yet many report receiving no formal training on any of it.
[PLACEHOLDER: Quote graphic from WA Health / CPA Report]
Lessons for Healthcare Educators
This experience reinforced what I believe about instructional design in healthcare:
Don’t just update guidelines—design for judgement
Respect uncertainty—it’s often where learning lives
Make the legal, ethical, and practical co-exist in design—not compete
It also proved that clinicians trust learning more when it mirrors real dilemmas, not idealised pathways.
Medicinal cannabis may be an emerging therapy, but the real opportunity is bigger.
It’s a test case for how we design clinician education that reflects real-world care:
Uneven access
High emotion
Legal complexity
Competing evidence
Limited time
That’s where good instructional design thrives—not in simplifying medicine, but in shaping learning that helps people act with care and confidence.