The Burden of Waiting for Pain Clinic Admission

Adults with rheumatic pain conditions suffer from lack of guidance in solving their complex health needs while they wait to obtain services in pain clinics, according to the findings published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders.

“Chronic pain has been compared to a ‘silent epidemic.’ The consequences of having millions of individuals living in pain waiting for services inevitably impacts societies,” the investigators stated. “This study explored the perceptions and experiences of healthcare utilization while waiting to access a pain clinic for individuals living with rheumatic conditions.”

The qualitative descriptive study used data from semi-structured interviews of adults living with at least one of the painful rheumatic conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and/or fibromyalgia. The final study population included 26 individuals (22 women and 4 men; all from Quebec, Canada; mean age 54 ± 10 years) who were either waiting to get admitted into a pain clinic, or were denied pain clinic services, or had received services over the past 6 months.

The investigators primarily observed that the patients had no clarity on alternative solutions to alleviate their pain while they waited for admission. The patients faced complex and multidimensional needs, and to manage those needs, they “struggled to obtain and maintain services due to systemic access barriers.” However, the study also found that despite the mentioned obstacles, most participants living with painful rheumatic conditions actively sought to find accessible and affordable alternatives for pain self-management that they could use regularly to meet their needs.

Through the perceptions and experiences of the participants, the investigators recommended educating patients about their pain and its management, increasing access to multidisciplinary approaches at the primary care level, and providing appropriate and timely care to patients.

—Priyam Vora

Reference:
Blanchard N, Deslauriers S, Gervais-Hupé J et al. “It feels like an endless fight”: a qualitative study exploring healthcare utilization of persons with rheumatic conditions waiting for pain clinic admission. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2022; 23: 878. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-022-05808-6