AB198. SOH22ABS090. Patient perspective on diagnostic accuracy in pain medicine—a survey
Anaesthesia Posters

AB198. SOH22ABS090. Patient perspective on diagnostic accuracy in pain medicine—a survey

Cathal Mac Donncha1, Dominic Harmon2

1Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Galway University Hospital, Galway, Ireland; 2Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, University Hospital Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

Background: Appropriate diagnosis is essential in providing proper and effective therapy. There is a recognition that incorrect diagnosis is associated with treatment failure. While these are established principles among medical professionals, there is a paucity of data or academic work on the patient perspective of the importance of diagnosis relating to their healthcare outcomes in chronic pain medicine. Bouvier and Jervis have studied the impact of diagnostic uncertainty in a patient population regarding neuroendocrine tumours. Their work identified the negative psychological impact of diagnostic uncertainty on patients, in particular an association between psychogenic diagnoses being used for physical symptoms.

Methods: Following a literature review which highlighted the lack of data on patient perspective regarding diagnostic accuracy in chronic pain, we created a survey provided to adult patients attending the chronic pain clinic. Ethical approval was received from Limerick research Ethics Committee. Extracted data included demographics, pain diagnosis, duration of symptoms and social support. A questionnaire comprising 18 questions was collected from patients regarding their understanding of their diagnosis, their views on the doctors understanding of their diagnosis, and their perspective on the importance and impact of diagnostic accuracy upon their health.

Results: The patient perspective of their diagnosis and the impact of diagnostic certainty upon them will be reported. The following data will be reported; Patient demographics and supports, patient experience of diagnostic error, the impacts of diagnostic uncertainty, the importance of a correct diagnosis, the contribution of imaging and physical examination to diagnosis.

Conclusions: In a chronic pain clinic, diagnostic uncertainty may have a detrimental impact on patient experience. Timely consideration of diagnostic accuracy could therefore improve outcomes in chronic pain clinic populations. This study should promote the importance of diagnostic certainty in chronic pain clinics.

Keywords: Diagnosis; pain; patient perspective; chronic pain; diagnostic accuracy

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-22-ab198
Cite this abstract as: Mac Donncha C, Harmon D. AB198. SOH22ABS090. Patient perspective on diagnostic accuracy in pain medicine—a survey. Mesentery Peritoneum 2022;6:AB198.

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