Abstract
Abstract
Background:
Chronic pain remains a challenging clinical issue. The literature suggests that acupuncture may be effective for subsets of chronic pain patients. How to best integrate acupuncture into a conventional managed care program, however, remains a perplexing issue.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to evaluate patient satisfaction with acupuncture services provided on site at a health maintenance organization (HMO) in both individual and group settings.
Design, Setting, and Patients:
Retrospective telephone interviews were completed with 33 adult patients with chronic pain who received acupuncture in group or individual sessions.
Main Outcome Measures:
Participants were asked to rank their satisfaction with clinician, satisfaction with care received, level of overall clinical improvement, and advantages or disadvantages of the group setting. Quantitative analysis included descriptive statistics for fixed-choice and demographic data. Qualitative data analysis involved summarizing respondents' statements as well as identifying and summarizing themes for each open-ended question across all responders.
Results:
Chronic pain patients who received acupuncture were generally satisfied with the care they received. Patients reported improvements in quality of life and pain control.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that there may be a potential role for group acupuncture clinics within conventional managed care networks.
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