Patient assessment of care in a pain management unit

Seventy individuals, 40 females and 30 males with a mean age of 58.5, suffering from protracted pain and associated incapacitation (due, mainly, to rheumatoid or osteoarthrotic conditions) were treated as outpatients with the purpose of relieving their pain and improving their function. The quality of care provided was evaluated based on the outcome approach, using patient assessment of the reduction of their pain and improvement of their limitations--complemented by the assessment of the physician who treated them--and their satisfaction with the care as the measurements of their assessments. The results of the assessment indicate that on completion of treatment 23% of patients had no pain, while the pain level of the rest decreased by 64% with only three still suffering from severe pain and none from very severe pain. In the majority of patients considerable improvement of the associated functional limitation was achieved. There was a high degree of satisfaction with care received in 90% of patients.