Patient Recruitment - Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Patients with chronic pain conditions attending NSCPCCN physician member clinics during the initial 30 days of Phase one will be eligible for enrollment.

Inclusion criteria will include:

  • Age greater than 18
  • Capacity to give informed consent
  • The presence of a pain condition for three months at the time of recruitment
  • A home telephone

Exclusion criteria include:

  • Lack of capacity to give informed consent
  • Patient refusal
  • Inability to communicate in English or the absence of a home telephone

The NSCPCCN member Family Physician will seek consent from the patient for the study coordinator to contact the patient for an interview. Informed consent for participation in the NSCPCCN will be obtained by the research coordinator. The enrollment target will be five patients per participating physician practice or 50 patients per community.
 

Participating physicians will be asked to record the following daily information:

  • Average number of visits per month patient visits per month for chronic pain
  • Average visit duration (minutes)
  • Additional non-compensated work associated with chronic pain (average time per day).

The following information will be obtained by telephone interview:

  • Physician satisfaction with chronic pain management
  • Opiate prescribing comfort (Likert scale)
  • Addiction screening (number of patients screened)