Patient Satisfaction with Spanish Pain Centers: Observational Study with More than 3,000 Patients

Abstract

Chronic pain is a serious problem in Spain. This multicenter, epidemiological 3-month follow-up study investigates pain management efficacy in Spanish centers using patient satisfaction criteria. 3,414 eligible adult patients (65,6% female) with moderate to severe chronic pain from 146 pain centers were included. Patient satisfaction was assessed based onto question 18 of Spanish healthcare barometer-CSI. Pain evolution (Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF) and visual analog scale (VAS)), quality of life/EuroQol-5, and pain control expectations fulfillment were also assessed. Mean age was 61.3 years. 64.4% of participating centers employed multidisciplinary pain management approach. After 3 months, mean patient satisfaction was 7.8 (1–10) on the CIS barometer. Medical staff received the highest scores, whereas waiting for tests, appointment request to appointment date time, and waiting times at the center the lowest. Mean pain decreased from 7.4 to 4.0; BPI-SF intensity decreased from 6.5 to 3.8; pain control expectations were met in 78.7% of patients; EuroQoL-5D utility index increased from 0.37 to 0.62, p < 0.001, and health status (VAS) from 40.6 to 61.9, p < 0.001. Chronic pain patients (90%) are satisfied with Spanish centers care; 80% had their pain control expectations met. Quality of life improved remarkably: 71% felt moderately to significantly better. However, waiting times need improvement.

Implementation of Patient‐Reported Outcomes (PROMs) from specialist pain clinics in England and Wales: Experience from a nationwide study

“…That a greater proportion of respondents were women and the majority were working age adults is consistent with other secondary care pain surveys. Blanchard et al () and García García et al () suggesting our sample is reasonably representative. These findings are similar to cross‐sectional surveys reported in Scotland and Canada in terms of age, employment status and quality of life (Health Improvement Scotland, , Racine et al, ).…”

“…Others have reported far greater improvement. ePOCC in Australia reported that 68% of respondents achieved the MIC for Pain Interference (Blanchard et al, ); a Spanish cohort study (García García et al, ) reported significant reductions in pain and improvement in quality of life. There may be good reason for these differences.…”

“…However, no comparison of US centres has been published. Garcia reported successful implementation of PROMs in 316 Spanish pain services, but the use of researchers to recruit and short follow‐up times limit its generalizability (García García et al, ).…”

Estudio descriptivo sobre el perfil de los pacientes derivados a la Unidad de Tratamiento del Dolor Crónico del Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín (UTDC-HUGCDN) como base para la reorganización de esta

“…Comparando el perfil de nuestros pacientes con otras series españolas estudiadas 3,4 encontramos coincidencias en datos básicos como la edad media de los pacientes derivados, unos 60 años, y su género, la mayoría pacientes mujeres. En nuestros pacientes del género femenino vemos proporcionalmente más dolores generalizados y gonalgias, y menos dolores pélvicos, de MMII, lumbalgias e inguinodinias que entre los varones (Tabla I).…”

Patient Satisfaction With Medical Care for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Pain Research Registry Study

“…11 Studies have often focused on the bivariate relationship between clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. [12][13][14][15][16][17] The process of treating chronic low back pain has been less studied, despite the broad variety of practitioner-based interventions available to patients. 18 Perhaps this is because assessing patient satisfaction with treatment of chronic pain is complex, involving various patient populations and differing levels of satisfaction with the process and outcomes of care.…”