An analysis of consultations requested to a pain clinic

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The study investigated in detail the current status of the consultations requested in a pain clinic. We evaluated the characteristics of the consultations to determine the kind of contents requested, referring departments and factors including demographics, co-morbidities, previous medical problems, and the descriptions of the reasons for the consultation to the pain clinic. METHODS: Clinical data were collected in the authors' institution between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2013. The medical records were reviewed and compared. Characteristics of both outpatients and inpatients were analysed. RESULTS: Data from 1,140 patients was available for this study. Seven hundred thirteen individuals belonged to the outpatient group and 427 individuals belonged to the inpatient group. Orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and otolaryngology were the main departments that requested consultations to the pain clinic. The most frequent requested lesion and diagnostic term were low back and lumbar spinal stenosis, respectively, and the most common reason for consulting was for "control of pain not controlled by medications." Factors that were significantly different between the two groups were gender, questions about other illnesses apart from the main diagnoses, history of specific diseases, acute onset, cancer, operation within 3 months, and physical system abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: The medical problems addressed by a pain clinic consultation service were diverse. It is rational to develop standardized guidelines for pain consultations, and treatment strategies aimed at alleviating pain per se as well as caring for comorbid conditions.