Web-based health survey systems in outcome assessment and management of pain.

Pain is a complex phenomenon lacking a well-defined paradigm for diagnosis and management across medical disciplines. This is due in part to inconsistencies in the assessment of pain as well as in the measurement of related social and psychological states. Efforts to evaluate and measure pain through objective tests have been hindered by challenges such as methodological differences in data acquisition, and the lack of common, universally accepted information systems. Physicians and hospital administrators have expressed mixed reactions to the costs that inevitably accompany advances in medical technology. Nonetheless, computer systems are currently being developed for use in the quantitative assessment and management of pain, which can advance our understanding of the public health impact of pain, improve the care individual patients receive, and educate providers. The description of an interdisciplinary, integrated, health survey system illustrates the approach and highlights the advantages of using information technology in pain evaluation and management.