Quality indicators for the assessment of pain clinic care: a step forward? Quality from professionals and pain patients’ perspective (QiPPP)

Consensus on quality standards for the organisation and registration of Dutch pain clinics is essential. The first step was recently taken: structural indicators were developed in expert consensus, which are suitable for the registration of pain clinics and approved by the Netherlands Association for Anaesthesiologists (NVA). In 2014, these structural indicators became the national quality standards for pain clinics in the Netherlands. A second step is the development of quality indicators from the perspective of patients with chronic pain. Together with chronic pain patient organisations, process and result indicators were developed to evaluate care and improve the quality of pain care. This resulted in the Quality Indicators Pain Patients Perspective (QIPPP) questionnaire. This questionnaire was validated in five Dutch pain clinics.