title: Clinical governance and chronic pain: towards a practical solution.
abstract: There have been many studies into the effectiveness of single interventions in pain, however, little is known of performance or outcome of pain clinics where treatment often consists of multiple, complex interventions. Many pain clinicians currently experience considerable difficulty in fulfilling the requirements of clinical governance and completing a personal portfolio. There is a clear and urgent need for a viable method of monitoring performance. This study describes a well-developed computer-based system - Pain Audit Collection System (PACS). PACS has been designed by pain clinicians through consensus and its success in uptake suggests that it is a viable method for outcome evaluation. An analysis is provided of outcome data in typical pain clinics. Further work is needed to investigate the utility of this data.
authors.affiliation: Pain Management, Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust Truro, Cornwall TR1 LJ, UK.
authors.forename: D P G
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: J Mitchell
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Noon
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D019992:Databases as Topic; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000379:methods*; D059408:Pain Management; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome