Background: Chronic pain symptoms are distressing conditions that necessitate regular visits for pain therapists and may require interventions, however, the COVID-19 pandemic obliged these patients and their therapists to limit both the visits and interventions with the transition to telehealth, with little or no preparation or training and this resulted in the extensive use of on-shelf analgesia and corticosteroids Objectives: Evaluation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rates of counseling and interventional pain therapy (IPT), and determine the effects of implementing the infection control programs (ICP) and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on these rates. Study design: Prospective multicenter survey based on an online self-assessed questionnaire Setting: Departments of Anesthesia, Pain, and ICU, and Physical Medicine, Rheumatology & Rehabilitation at Egyptian University hospitals Methods: A self-assessed questionnaire was uploaded on Google forms and links were sent to the enrolled therapists with an identification number to allow self-administration and privacy. Feedback was analyzed by two authors who were blinded to the identity of the responders. |
