Exploring the impact of a pain assessment information visualization tool on provider-patient pain discussion with limited English proficiency Hmong patients.

Abstract

This pilot study examines the impact of the Pain Assessment Information Visualization (InfoViz) Tool on the length of the patient visit for Hmong patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). A static design study was used to collect data from a triad of 20 Hmong patients with LEP, medical interpreters, and clinicians in the usual care group followed by 20 triads in the intervention group in primary care. We analyzed patient-clinician communication audio-recorded visits in primary care, examining both the length of the visit and the nature of the clinician efforts to gather more information using Svarstad's clinician conversation conceptualization to explore probing frequencies for three pain categories: pain location, severity, and quality in the intervention group (Pain InfoViz Tool) and usual care group. The usual care group spent a longer time on pain discussions (Mean = 19.56 min, SD=20.17) compared to the intervention group (Mean = 12.39 min, SD=7.78). Clinicians in the intervention group probed less than those in the usual care group. Patients in the intervention group provided more pain information to clinicians than those in the usual care group. The tool appears to shorten the time it takes to discuss the patient's pain. It may have positively impacted Hmong patients with LEP' ability to describe their pain more clearly, resulting in less time and fewer assessment probes needed by clinicians. Implementing the tool in clinical settings may lead to more efficient pain-related discussions.