Validation of the Electronic Facial Pain Proforma among TMDs/orofacial patients

Objective: To explore the acceptability of Electronic Eastman Pain Proforma (EEPP) by patients and clinicians. Methods: A controlled trial was conducted in the Facial Pain Clinic. Three experienced orofacial pain clinicians participated. 119 patients were consecutively allocated to 3 methods of history taking for each participated clinician namely traditional, semi-structured paper-based and the EEPP. The outcome measures were the time used for consultation, patient satisfaction using the Consultant Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ), and clinician satisfaction using the modified Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS) and open comment style. SPSS version 11 for Windows was used for data analysis. Kruskal-Wallis test and Wilcoxon Sign Rank test were used to find out the differences within 3 methods. Chi-square test was used to test for differences of demographic data among the 3 methods. One-way ANOVA and unpaired t-test were used for testing the difference of time taken for history taking of the 3 methods. Results: Median scores of all 4 aspects in the CSQ (general satisfaction, professional care, depth of relation, and perceived time) were not significantly different (p<0.01) among the 3 methods. There was an increased consultation time from the free hand (13.2 min., 95% CI: 11.7-14.6), paper-based (17.5 min., 95% CI: 16.1-18.9) to the EEPP (21.8 min., 95% CI: 19.7-23.9). The mean scores of clinicians' satisfaction to EEPP were more than 4 out of 8 in all aspects of the QUIS. Those aspects were overall user reaction (4 to 6), screen design & layout (5.5 to 7), screen terminology (6 to 6.5), system learning (6 to 6.5), and system capability (5.5 to 7). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the use of the EEPP for taking the pain history in the consulting room did not result in a decrease in the patient-doctor relationship and was accepted by all patients.