Patient expectations for chronic pain management.

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Patient Expectations
• Healthcare Communication

Background:

• Chronic pain affects 1 in 6 New Zealanders.
• Current treatments achieve limited pain reduction (approx. 30%) in about half of patients.
• A significant gap exists between patient expectations and treatment realities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore patients' primary goals and reasons for attending a Pain Management Centre.
• To understand patient expectations regarding chronic pain treatment outcomes.
• To inform strategies for aligning patient expectations with realistic pain management.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of free-text responses from 250 patients referred to a Pain Management Centre.
• Utilized ethnographic content analysis, an inductive thematic approach.
• Identified patient-reported goals and expectations directly from their own words.

Main Results:

• Three emergent themes: desire for pain understanding, regaining 'normality', and medication concerns.
• Patients' expectations ranged from seeking a cure to desiring pain management.
• A subset of patients held strong expectations for complete pain eradication.

Conclusions:

• Patients desire normalcy and clear information on diagnosis, prognosis, and medications.
• Patients expecting a cure or significant reduction pose challenges for healthcare providers.
• Aligning patient expectations with achievable outcomes at referral is essential for effective chronic pain management.