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ABSTRACTBackground Chronic pain affects approximately one in every five Canadians and has a substantial impact on psychological well-being, relationships, ability to attend work or school, and overall functioning.The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic introduced orientation sessions, with the aim of providing new patients with pain education to help prepare patients for engagement with multimodal pain management strategies. This report summarizes the results of a formative evaluation of the orientation session at The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic to determine whether patients perceived the orientation session as beneficial.Methods Interviews were conducted, transcribed, and then thematically analyzed to understand patients’ perspectives on the orientation session. Coding was done by two team members using the constant comparison analyses method with key ideas, concepts, and patterns identified and compared to identify similarities.Results Between September 6 and October 18, 2019, 18 patients attended an orientation session and 12 consented to participation and completed telephone interviews. The six themes identified included (1) feeling of community, (2) participants feeling heard by providers, (3) appreciation of the holistic approach, (4) availability of community resources, (5) barriers to access, and (6) discordant feelings of preparedness for the physician appointment.Conclusion Results from this evaluation indicate that the orientation session offered at The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic improves chronic pain literacy, reduces feeling of isolation, and instills hope. As such, it appears to be a valuable component of pain clinic programs.

Background Canadians make approximately 16 million visits to the emergency department (ED) each year. ED visits for non-urgent reasons contribute to suboptimal patient care and ineffective resource use. Aims To estimate the proportion of ED visits related to chronic pain at our institution. Methods. We conducted a retrospective review of 1000 randomly selected ED visits at TOH during the 2012–2013 fiscal year (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013). Visits for chronic pain were identified using pre-defined criteria. Demographic and medical data were extracted from medical charts. Results 104 visits during this time period were related to chronic pain (10.4%; 95% CI: 8.2–12.6). All visits were from unique patients (i.e., no patients contributed more than 1 visit). Patients were predominantly women (71%), with a mean age of 45.9 years. Seventy-eight percent of patients had a primary care provider. The most common location of pain included the abdomen (24%), the head or face (21%), and the low back (21%). Only 5% of patients had consultation with a pain medicine specialist while 78% were awaiting a consultation. More than 2/3 of patients (71%) reported using opioids for their pain. Conclusion Presenting to the ED for chronic pain was found to occur among a sample of ED visits reviewed. This can result in ineffective care for patients with chronic pain. Cost-effective solutions to improve clinical outcomes and reduce ED use for chronic pain may yield significant improvements in health outcomes of patients and benefits for the health care system.