Clinical governance and chronic pain: towards a practical solution

Area of Science:

• Pain management
• Clinical governance
• Health informatics

Background:

• Limited understanding of multi-interventional pain clinic performance.
• Challenges for pain clinicians in clinical governance and portfolio completion.
• Urgent need for effective performance monitoring methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a computer-based system for monitoring pain clinic performance.
• To evaluate the viability of the Pain Audit Collection System (PACS) for outcome assessment.
• To analyze outcome data from typical pain clinics.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Pain Audit Collection System (PACS) by consensus among pain clinicians.
• Implementation of PACS in pain clinic settings.
• Analysis of outcome data collected via PACS.

Main Results:

• PACS has been successfully adopted, indicating its viability for outcome evaluation.
• Initial analysis of outcome data from typical pain clinics was performed.
• The system facilitates the monitoring of performance in complex pain management.

Conclusions:

• The Pain Audit Collection System (PACS) offers a viable method for monitoring pain clinic performance and outcomes.
• Further research is required to fully explore the utility of PACS-generated data.
• The system addresses the need for improved clinical governance in pain management.