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Pain education for patients has grown in interest and practice in recent years. It seems intuitive that patient education is important. Patients seek care to understand their pain and what can be done about it. But what do we mean by pain education for patients and are we doing it well? Can we do it better? This chapter explores these questions, starting with current trends and research about patient education about pain.

Next, it explores challenges of pain education and what might be missing. Then it suggests how these challenges may be addressed, including a vision for education that is more collaborative and is focused on transformative learning. The chapter finishes with the clinical encounter and discusses strategies to better help patients make sense of their pain and know what to do about it. Throughout the chapter new ways of looking at patient education are brought in, with ideas from philosophy, critical pedagogy, patient engagement and narrative medicine. There are a number of Reflective Practice exercises throughout to enable clinicians to engage with the ideas presented. The authors hope this chapter sparks the reader’s curiosity and creativity when it comes to teaching and learning and that it will help improve their experience of pain education in the clinical encounter. This chapter is the start of a conversation about pain education for patients, not a definitive conclusion. The ways in which we teach, educate, learn and apply what we know are always evolving, for patients and clinicians alike.