What factors predict outcome from an inpatient multidisciplinary chronic pain service? A prospective cohort study.

Objective To identify baseline factors associated with outcomes from an inpatient multidisciplinary pain management program (PMP) located in a bicultural area of Aotearoa New Zealand. Methods A prospective cohort study was undertaken involving 164 people with chronic pain who attended the PMP. Demographic, clinical, and psychosocial measures were obtained at baseline, whereas clinical and psychosocial outcome measures were also obtained at program discharge and 3-month follow up (N = 100). Multivariate analyses were used to determine baseline demographic variables that were associated with outcomes at discharge and follow up. Results Being male and working full-time were associated with poorer outcomes in select measures at discharge. At the 3-month follow up, Maori ethnicity, working full-time, being retired or unemployed, or having chronic widespread pain were associated with poorer outcomes for some measures, whereas those with rheumatoid arthritis had greater self-efficacy. Conclusions Sex, ethnicity, employment status, and patient condition impact clinical outcomes from the program and in the time from discharge to follow up. Program content and/or delivery should be altered to promote more equitable outcomes for all patients in the long term.

Are human resource practices the key to managing job burnout in New Zealand nurses? Testing a path model.

AIM: To explore if human resource practices are the key to manage job burnout in nurses. OBJECTIVE: To determine if human resource practices provide more meaningful work to nurses, subsequently leading to enhanced work-life balance and lower job burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism). BACKGROUND: Job burnout is a global phenomenon, particularly relevant in the nursing profession due to pressures within the health sector. Job burnout is also a result of nurses not balancing work with their life roles and maintaining meaning in one's work. High-performance systems are tools that hospital human resource departments can use to increase core employee factors that ultimately reduce the risk of job burnout. METHODS: Using cross-sectional data from 114 New Zealand nurses, we tested a path model to distinguish whether human resource practices can influence job burnout, with meaningful work and work-life balance mediating. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling and indirect effects for mediating. This research adhered to the STROBE Statement. RESULTS: Human resource practices are positively related to meaningful work and work-life balance, and meaningful work was positively related to work-life balance and negatively related to cynicism. Finally, work-life balance is negatively related to emotional exhaustion and cynicism. CONCLUSIONS: Given the influence of human resource practices on job burnout is fully mediated by meaningful work and work-life balance, indicating that managing job burnout is best understood via human resource practices enhancing nurses meaning from work and role balance, which subsequently reduces job burnout. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Human resource practices can enhance work factors, such as meaningful work and work-life balance, that can enable nurses to have reduced job burnout. This will help prevent cynicism, exhaustion and will therefore prevent absenteeism, enhance performance and overall aid long-term employment benefitting not only patients but hospitals.

Reduced individual treatment delivery has no effect on outcomes in a multidisciplinary pain management program.

Objective There is little information on how multidisciplinary pain management programs (MPMPs), the gold-standard treatment for people with chronic non-cancer pain, should be structured or delivered. This study compared outcomes from a 3-week in-patient MPMP between those who attended a group-based program that included 8 h of individual therapy each week and those who attended when the amount of individual therapy had been halved. Methods Participants were patients attending an MPMP with a large component of individual sessions (n = 112; Standard) and patients attending the same MPMP after it switched to predominantly group-based sessions (n = 117; Revised). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Queen Elizabeth (QE) Health Scale were administered to participants at baseline and discharge. Regression analysis was used to compare outcomes between the two delivery formats. Results There were no significant differences in any outcome measures between the two delivery formats overall. The QE Health Scale (P < 0.001) and HADS depression (P < 0.05) scores were significantly better for patients with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis who had undertaken the Revised program compared with the Standard program. Conclusions This study provides support that changing the amount of individual therapy within in-patient MPMPs does not change patient outcomes. However, there is evidence that those with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis respond better to a more group-based approach, suggesting that different populations may be suited to different delivery formats. What is known about the topic? Studies have shown mixed results as to whether group- or individual-based rehabilitation programs are more effective. Previous systematic reviews on physiotherapy- or psychological-based interventions have concluded that individual and group approaches are generally equivalent in terms of patient outcomes. MPMPs are trending towards more group-based delivery of content; however, it is unknown whether the equivalence of efficacy between group and individual formats extends to a chronic pain population receiving multidisciplinary care. What does this paper add? This research specifically adds to the knowledge that almost exclusive group delivery of therapy is just as effective as a program with more individual components in a population of patients participating in an MPMP. There is some evidence that those with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis in the almost exclusive group delivery program had better outcomes than those in the program with more individual components, indicating that specific conditions may benefit more from a group approach. What are the implications for practitioners? Practitioners can be confident that group delivery is just as effective as individual delivery of program components in an MPMP. Thus, decisions regarding the delivery format can be based on factors such as practical considerations, cost or patient and clinician preference.