Articles: pain-clinics.
-
Observational Study
Favourable prognosis of trigeminal neuralgia when enrolled in a multidisciplinary management program - a two-year prospective real-life study.
Prognosis of medically treated trigeminal neuralgia patients is assumed to be poor, but the evidence is lacking. Thus, prospective real-life studies of medical management of trigeminal neuralgia are warranted. ⋯ Patients with trigeminal neuralgia improve over a two-year period when enrolled in a structured medical management program. Optimisation of drug treatment, continuous advice and education and support by the multidisciplinary team, referral of the medically intractable patients for surgery or the natural history of the disease, can be some of the reasons for the improvement. The favourable prognosis provides hope and optimism for medically managed TN patients.
-
In joint initiatives, the European Headache Federation and Lifting The Burden have described a model of structured headache services (with their basis in primary care), defined service quality in this context, and developed practical methods for its evaluation. Here, in a continuation of the service quality evaluation programme, we set out ten suggested role- and performance-defining standards for specialized headache centres operating as an integral component of these services. Verifiable criteria for evaluation accompany each standard. The purposes are five-fold: (i) to inspire and promote, or stimulate the establishment of, specialized headache centres as centres of excellence; (ii) to define the role of such centres within optimally structured and organized national headache services; (iii) to set out criteria by which such centres may be recognized as exemplary in their fulfilment of this role; (iv) to provide the basis for, and to initiate and motivate, collaboration and networking between such centres both nationally and internationally; (v) ultimately to improve the delivery and quality of health care for headache.
-
To describe a model of clinical pharmacy services as part of a multidisciplinary specialty pain clinic by discussing (1) the role of a clinical pharmacist in a specialty setting, including clinical interventions implemented, and (2) how integration of a clinical pharmacist may translate into an improved patient care model for the management of chronic pain. ⋯ A clinical pharmacist can identify many MRPs and implement interventions in chronic pain management. Integration of clinical pharmacy services may improve practice management by facilitating the completion of MCCAs and increase access to patients' needs outside the clinic.
-
Chronic pain during childhood is prevalent and costly, but the access to interdisciplinary pain care is limited. Studies investigating adults waiting for pain clinic evaluation found that symptoms and quality of life deteriorate over the waiting period, but little is known about the experience of adolescents. Therefore, we aimed to determine wait list times and the longitudinal trends of pain and physical, mental, and social health over a 12-week period. ⋯ Findings highlight the need to consider approaches to reduce wait times and provide early intervention for youths awaiting pain clinic evaluation. Perspective: This study extends the literature on the characteristics and symptom trajectories of adolescents during the wait period for interdisciplinary pain clinic evaluation, described previously only in adults with chronic pain. Findings demonstrated an average wait time of 6.5 months, during which youths' pain and physical and social health remained impaired.