PAIN THERAPY PROVIDED BY ANESTHESIA DEPARTMENTS IN AUSTRIA

The aim of our work was to collect basic information on the current si tuation of chronic pain treatment provided by anesthesiologists in Aus tria. In February 1998, a semi-structured questionnaire was sent to al l 129 heads of anesthesia departments in Austria, and a rate of 58% wa s returned. The answering departments represent 32,315 of the appr. 75 ,000 hospital beds in Austria. The availability of an acute pain servi ce differs, depending on the category of the hospital. A large group o f private (82%) or university hospitals (67%) offers such a service fo r in-patients, whereas it is available only in 40-50% of public hospit als. Anesthesiological pain clinics for out-patients are established i n the three university hospitals, but only in 29% of all hospitals. Du ring regular opening hours an average staff capacity of 1.5 anesthesio logists, 0.9 nurses and 0.5 secretaries are present.The average number of patients treated annually in an anaesthesiological pain clinic is 520. Invasive therapies are widespread and frequently applied: almost every anaesthesiological pain clinic makes use of local infiltrations (90%), stellate ganglion blocks (86%) and epidural blocks (81%). Trans cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (81%) and acupuncture (76%) are also frequently used. In Austria, chronic pain management opens a wid e field for anesthesiologists in the future.