Characteristics of a well-functioning chronic pain team: A systematic review

Abstract

Chronic pain is prevalent, affecting 20% of New Zealanders. The International Association for the Study of Pain recommends that the treatment of chronic pain is provided by a multi-disciplinary team. To investigate the features supporting the development and maintenance of a well-functioning team, this mixed-method systematic review synthesised empirical research of clinician-reported experience of working in chronic pain teams that provide treatment to adults with chronic, non-cancer related pain. After a search of five electronic database, in which 21 studies were retrieved for full-text screening, seven studies were included in the final review. Studies were rated as unclear, satisfactory or good for both quality (the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool) and transferability. Extracted data were thematically analysed; themes had contributions from more than one key paper (i.e. good quality and good transferability). Four features of a well-functioning team appeared most strongly in the data: team philosophy, co-location, stable workforce and communication. These features are congruent with the broader literature on the characteristics of effective health teams in other patient populations and settings. They might also be features that are particularly important for the development and maintenance of effective chronic pain teams that work in the types of teams and settings typical of the New Zealand context.