Telemedicine for chronic pain treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Do pain intensity and anxiousness correlate with patient acceptance?
| Autor: | Michael Alexander Harnik, Konrad Streitberger, Florian Reisig, Martin Grosse Holtforth, Larissa Blättler, Andreas Limacher |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Telemedicine
medicine.medical_specialty Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Average level Anxiety Patient acceptance Pandemic eHealth Medicine Humans 610 Medicine & health Pandemics Research Articles business.industry SARS-CoV-2 Chronic pain COVID-19 remote care medicine.disease Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Physical therapy medicine.symptom Chronic Pain business Research Article acceptance |
| Zdroj: | Pain Practice |
| ISSN: | 1533-2500 |
| Popis: | Introduction Recent recommendations for the treatment of chronic pain patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic suggest using telemedicine instead of in‐person consultations. Knowing whether patients with chronic pain are receptive to the use of telemedicine during a pandemic might improve tailored care. Objective The aims of the present study were to assess patients’ acceptance of telemedicine during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Switzerland and to examine the correlation of acceptance with pain intensity and anxiousness. Methods An anonymous survey was conducted from March 31, 2020, to July 30, 2020, with 61 patients referred to the Pain Center at the Bern University Hospital Inselspital in Bern, Switzerland. Collected data were analyzed descriptively, and correlations were calculated between acceptance of telemedicine and mean levels of current pain, psychological distress, and fear of COVID‐19. Results Our main finding was an average level of acceptance of telemedicine, with a mean of 6.25 on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 10 (completely), with substantial variability and range (SD = 3.56). The acceptance of telemedicine correlated negatively with current mean pain level (r = −0.44), worries (r = −0.42), and fear of COVID‐19 (r = −0.4), as well as positively with the general condition (r = 0.46). Conclusions Using telemedicine for chronic pain treatment during the COVID‐19 crisis was accepted to a sufficient degree by a considerable proportion of patients. However, the higher the mean levels of pain and anxiousness, the lower the acceptance, indicating that these severely burdened patients may suffer most from treatment restrictions. For this subgroup, telemedicine might not suffice and in‐person visits should be considered. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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