Evaluation of a Interdisciplinary Pain Program Among Patients With Chronic Pain and Frequent Emergency Department Visits
CompletedNot applicableNCT02237391
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Brief summary (from the registry)
While significant advances in pain management have occurred in the last 20 years, the majority of patients with chronic pain (CP) are unable to access evidence-based treatment at either the primary or tertiary care level. Moreover, research has shown that unrelieved CP and the lack of available expertise contribute to emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions. At The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), close to 18,000 ED visits per year are related to CP (12.9%). Among high frequency visitors (HFV; \>= 8 visits per year), a small number of patients with CP use an inordinate amount of acute care resources. The investigators study will use a randomized controlled (RCT) design to conduct a pilot evaluation of the impact of a Complex Interdisciplinary Pain Assessment Program (CIPAP) linked with primary care physicians (PCP) compared to a treatment as usual (TAU) control arm. The investigators hypothesis is that implementing a CIPAP will increase health care value through improved patient outcomes and reduced costs in HFV with chronic pain (CP-HFV). The investigators believe that a CIPAP will provide CP-HFV patients long-term pain management solutions, ED visits for CP will be reduced, and hospital admissions for CP will be prevented. This pilot RCT study will inform a larger-scale RCT study to be conducted in the future.
Study details
- Official title
- Evaluation of a Complex Interdisciplinary Pain Assessment Program Linked to Primary Care to Improve Clinical Outcomes and Reduce Health Care Utilization Among Patients With Chronic Pain and Frequent Emergency Department Visits
- Conditions
- Chronic Pain
- Peer Review, Health Care
- Interdisciplinary Communication
- Interventions
- Other: CIPAP Program
- Other: Treatment as Usual (TAU)
- Sponsor
- Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Collaborators
- The Physicians' Services Incorporated Foundation; The Ottawa Hospital Academic Medical Association
- Start date
- 2014-12
- Primary completion
- 2018-01-01
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- Canada
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: * Adult (18+ years old) * Working knowledge of English or French * Presented to The Ottawa Hospital Emergency Department (TOH ED) with a primary complaint of chronic or recurrent pain a minimum of 8 times over the last 12 months, with 3 of the visits occurring in the 3 months prior to study enrollment. * Patients fit criteria for chronic pain (CP) if they have had "pain that has lasted longer than three months." As per the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) taxonomy of CP syndromes, this includes: "relatively generalized syndromes," "relatively localized syndromes of the head and neck," "spine and radicular pain syndromes," "local syndromes of the upper limbs," and "visceral pain syndromes." Exclusion Criteria: * Malignant pain - patients will be referred to our complex cancer pain program * Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale Level 1 and Level 2; Level 3 will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and we will document reason for exclusion * Refusal or inability to provide consent
Canadian sites (1)
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02237391