Older Patient Satisfaction with Chronic Pain Management in the National Geriatric Hospital in Vietnam

Purpose The high prevalence of chronic pain and difficulties in pain management in older people are challenging for healthcare providers globally. Patient satisfaction regarding pain management is one of the measures to assess efficacy of pain control as well as healthcare services. Thus, our study aimed to evaluate the older patients' satisfaction with pain management and its associated factors in Vietnam. Patients and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at National Geriatric Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam from May to October 2018. Face-to-face interviews were conducted on 495 older patients with chronic pain by using a structured questionnaire. The Pain Treatment Satisfaction Scale (PTSS) was used to assess the level of satisfaction with pain management. A Tobit regression model was used to estimate factors associated with satisfaction toward pain management. Results The mean total satisfaction score was 1.77 (SD= 0.22). Older patients were most satisfied with the aspect of side effects of pain relief medication (mean=0.66, SD=0.56). On the contrary, they were most dissatisfied with information provided about pain and its treatment and efficacy of pain relief medication. Outpatients were less satisfied with information provided, the impact of current medication and pain management in general compared to inpatients. The regression model showed that patients with severe pain tended to be more dissatisfied with pain management than those with no pain. Conclusion This study indicated that the general satisfaction with chronic pain management in older patients was quite good especially in the aspect of pain medication's side effects. However, dissatisfactory factors remained, including information provided about pain and efficacy of current pain medication. Intensive training regarding pain in geriatric care, health education communication for older people, and improved quality of medical services should be performed to ensure the quality of pain management, especially in the older population.