Abstract
Questionnaires on the second revision of the guidelines for the treatment of pain published by the Japanese Society of Pain Clinicians (JSPC) were sent to all 4,002 members of the JSPC to clarify its impact on daily clinical practice. Two hundred forty-three members (6.1%) responded. Based on the age distribution, duration of providing pain treatment, and the proportion of specialists among the respondents, the results could reflect the general opinions of pain clinicians who play active roles in pain treatment. Among the 243 respondents, 161 (66.3%) treated patients mainly with nerve blocks. The second revision, which focused on nerve blocks, was used by 114 respondents (46.9%). One hundred seventy-one respondents(70.4%) evaluated the second revision useful. Analyses of the questionnaires revealed that publishing the guidelines for pain treatment was essential for the Japanese Society of Pain Clinicians. The respondents suggested that the third revision be user-friendly, describe more nerve blocks, diseases, anatomy for and physiology of nerve blocks, and pharmacotherapy. They also recommended more high-quality references be mentioned in the highly ranked 20 diseases and pain syndromes and delete lesser ranked ones to improve the overall quality of the next guidelines published by the JSPC.
