Narrative Medicine to Highlight Values of Italian Pain Therapists in a Changing Healthcare System

SUMMARY 

Until 2010 pain management in Italy was only partially covered and no structural and qualitative mapping had ever been realized. The VEDUTA project was designed to provide a tool to unite pain therapists in national cooperation. Quantitative questionnaires and narrative plots were sent to 350 Italian specialists; 184 therapists completed the first section and 87 also wrote their stories. Narratives were analyzed through transactional analysis and emotional intelligence. Overall, results show that a patient-centered approach is common in daily practice, but that bureaucracy is endangering quality of care. This cultural analysis, through both the application of quantitative assessment and narrative plots, provides a useful tool to improve those aspects of the system detrimental to the appropriate management of pain in Italy.

KEYWORDS:

• narrative
• pain
• working climate

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors would like to thank the Italian Society of Pain Clinicians and the Fondazione iSAL for their support and Grunenthal for the unconditional grant. P Zini works in Grünenthal Italia s.r.l. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript. Editorial assistance for the preparation of this manuscript was provided by Laura Brogelli of Content Ed Net, and was supported by internal funds.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Italian Society of Pain Clinicians and the Fondazione iSAL for their support and Grunenthal for the unconditional grant. P Zini works in Grünenthal Italia s.r.l. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript. Editorial assistance for the preparation of this manuscript was provided by Laura Brogelli of Content Ed Net, and was supported by internal funds.