BACKGROUND The recognition of chronic pain as a biopsychosocial phenomenon has led to the establishment of multidisciplinary pain treatment facilities, such as pain centres. Previous studies have focussed on inpatient, group-based or time-limited multidisciplinary pain programmes. The aim was to investigate variation in patients' experiences of attending individual outpatient multidisciplinary treatment at pain centres in Norway. METHODS This was a qualitative study using semi-structured individual interviews with 19 informants. The informants were recruited among persons who after referral by their general practitioners 12 months prior had attended multidisciplinary pain treatment at a pain centre. The data were analysed thematically using systematic text condensation. RESULTS The informants had received different treatments at the pain centres. Some had undergone only one multidisciplinary assessment in which a physician, a psychologist and a physiotherapist had been present, whereas others had initially been to a multidisciplinary assessment and then continued treatment by one or more of the professionals at the centre. Their experiences ranged from the pain centre as being described as a lifebuoy by some informants who had attended treatment over time, to being described as a waste of time by others who had only attended one or two multidisciplinary sessions. Prominent experiences included being met with understanding and a perception of receiving the best possible treatment, but also included disappointment over not being offered any treatment and perceiving the multidisciplinary approach as unnecessary. CONCLUSIONS There were large variations in the informants' experiences in the pain centres. The findings indicate that the pain centres' multidisciplinary approach can represent a new approach to living with chronic pain but may also not provide anything new. Efforts should be devoted to ensuring that the pain centres' multidisciplinary treatment approach is aligned with their patients' actual needs.

中文翻译：

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“救生圈”和“时间的浪费”：患者对多学科疼痛中心治疗的不同体验-定性研究。

背景技术将慢性疼痛识别为一种生物心理社会现象已导致建立多学科的疼痛治疗设施，例如疼痛中心。先前的研究集中于住院，基于组或有时间限制的多学科疼痛计划。目的是调查在挪威疼痛中心接受个别门诊多学科治疗的患者经历的差异。方法这是一项定性研究，使用了对19名线人进行的半结构化个人访谈。线人是在全科医生转诊后12个月后曾在疼痛中心接受多学科疼痛治疗的人员中招募的。使用系统的文本压缩对数据进行了主题分析。结果线人在疼痛中心接受了不同的治疗。有些只接受了一名医师，心理学家和物理治疗师在场的多学科评估，而另一些则最初接受了一项多学科评估，然后继续由该中心的一名或多名专业人员进行治疗。他们的经历从疼痛中心被一些经过一段时间治疗的线人描述为救生圈，到被仅参加一到两次多学科会议的其他人描述为浪费时间。杰出的经历包括获得理解和接受最佳治疗的感觉，但也包括对没有得到任何治疗的失望和认为多学科方法是不必要的。结论疼痛中心线人的经历差异很大。研究结果表明，疼痛中心的多学科方法可以代表治疗慢性疼痛的一种新方法，但也可能没有提供任何新的方法。应努力确保疼痛中心的多学科治疗方法与患者的实际需求保持一致。