Patient experiences of remote care in a pain service during a pandemic

Background: In March 2020, Pain Management Services were obliged to cease face-to-face consultations. This abrupt change, in line with recommendations from the British Pain Society, aimed to protect patients and staff and allowed resource re-allocation. Pain services were obliged to switch to remote consultations using Video Tele-Conferencing Technology (VTC) and Remote Consultations (RC) either through telephone or video calls using a variety of media and software applications. Little is known about the patient experience of remotely delivered pain care especially when alternatives are removed. The aim of this work was to understand the patient experience of this necessary switch regarding pain self-management interventions during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A mixed-methods evaluation of the patient experience from three pain self-management interventions, taking place in a large community-based pain rehabilitation service along the South Coast of England, was performed. Experience-Based Design (EBD) methods were used to map patient experience at touch points through two interventions that were delivered in a structured format. Semi-structured recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis for the third.

Findings: Fifty-eight patients took part covering the scope of the service. In general, educational and psychological sessions were well received, with physical rehabilitation components being less easy to convey remotely. Attrition rates were high for the pain management programme. Group pain education worked particularly well in an online format with hope being the predominant emotion experienced. Clear limitations were technical failures and the lack of ability to form relationships in a virtual world.

Conclusions: Remote digitalised interventions were acceptable to most patients. Attention should be paid to access and improving social aspects of delivery when considering such interventions. Physiotherapy may require more face-to-face necessitating a hybrid model and needs further investigation. EBD proved a highly suitable approach.