Emmanuella Borukh, Phuong Nguyen, Geum Yeon Sim, Jasal Patel, Andrew Bloomfield, Sarang S Koushik, Jagun Raghavan, Omar Viswanath, Kevin Zacharoff, Kateryna Slinchenkova, Karina Gritsenko, Naum Shaparin
{"title":"The Administration of an Expectation Survey at a Pain Medicine Clinic to Improve Patient Satisfaction: A Prospective Study.","authors":"Emmanuella Borukh, Phuong Nguyen, Geum Yeon Sim, Jasal Patel, Andrew Bloomfield, Sarang S Koushik, Jagun Raghavan, Omar Viswanath, Kevin Zacharoff, Kateryna Slinchenkova, Karina Gritsenko, Naum Shaparin","doi":"10.1007/s11916-025-01406-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Patients' expectations are important aspects to consider for improving patients' satisfaction and willingness to return for continued care. While expectation surveys are not novel in Pain Medicine, none specifically aim to improve satisfaction. This study evaluates whether administering an expectation survey during an initial pain clinic visit improves satisfaction with treatment plans and outcomes. We hypothesized that completing the survey could increase awareness and help align expectations and satisfaction.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>This study was conducted at an outpatient multidisciplinary pain clinic at an urban academic hospital and 100 first-time, English speaking adult patients were recruited. Fifty patients completed a pre-visit questionnaire on pain and expectations (intervention group), while 50 did not (control group). A follow-up survey was completed six months later by 85% of participants to assess satisfaction level with pain treatment, meeting of goals and expectations, and overall clinic experience. No significant differences were found between intervention and control groups for pain treatment satisfaction (3.46 ± 1.31 vs. 3.50 ± 1.28, p = 0.48), goal achievement (3.76 ± 1.14 vs. 3.49 ± 1.20, p = 0.30), or overall experience (3.83 ± 1.20 vs. 3.72 ± 1.14, p = 0.67). Dissatisfaction stemmed from inadequate pain relief, lack of follow-up, and unmet expectations. The lack of statistical significance suggests that merely assessing expectations without patient education or provider engagement may be insufficient. Future studies could explore how patient education, communication, and treatment understanding can impact satisfaction to potentially improve pain management experiences.</p>","PeriodicalId":50602,"journal":{"name":"Current Pain and Headache Reports","volume":"29 1","pages":"104"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12310763/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Pain and Headache Reports","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-025-01406-y","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose of review: Patients' expectations are important aspects to consider for improving patients' satisfaction and willingness to return for continued care. While expectation surveys are not novel in Pain Medicine, none specifically aim to improve satisfaction. This study evaluates whether administering an expectation survey during an initial pain clinic visit improves satisfaction with treatment plans and outcomes. We hypothesized that completing the survey could increase awareness and help align expectations and satisfaction.
Recent findings: This study was conducted at an outpatient multidisciplinary pain clinic at an urban academic hospital and 100 first-time, English speaking adult patients were recruited. Fifty patients completed a pre-visit questionnaire on pain and expectations (intervention group), while 50 did not (control group). A follow-up survey was completed six months later by 85% of participants to assess satisfaction level with pain treatment, meeting of goals and expectations, and overall clinic experience. No significant differences were found between intervention and control groups for pain treatment satisfaction (3.46 ± 1.31 vs. 3.50 ± 1.28, p = 0.48), goal achievement (3.76 ± 1.14 vs. 3.49 ± 1.20, p = 0.30), or overall experience (3.83 ± 1.20 vs. 3.72 ± 1.14, p = 0.67). Dissatisfaction stemmed from inadequate pain relief, lack of follow-up, and unmet expectations. The lack of statistical significance suggests that merely assessing expectations without patient education or provider engagement may be insufficient. Future studies could explore how patient education, communication, and treatment understanding can impact satisfaction to potentially improve pain management experiences.
期刊介绍:
This journal aims to review the most important, recently published clinical findings regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and management of pain and headache. By providing clear, insightful, balanced contributions by international experts, the journal intends to serve all those involved in the care and prevention of pain and headache.
We accomplish this aim by appointing international authorities to serve as Section Editors in key subject areas, such as anesthetic techniques in pain management, cluster headache, neuropathic pain, and migraine. Section Editors, in turn, select topics for which leading experts contribute comprehensive review articles that emphasize new developments and recently published papers of major importance, highlighted by annotated reference lists. An international Editorial Board reviews the annual table of contents, suggests articles of special interest to their country/region, and ensures that topics are current and include emerging research. Commentaries from well-known figures in the field are also provided.