Data collection by acute pain services in Australia and New Zealand

Forty-three Acute Pain Service units in Australia and New Zealand were, sur veyed regarding data they collected on their daily rounds. The survey sough t to determine what data each unit actually collected and what they conside red to be a set of data that would be an acceptable minimal standard for th e purpose of audit. The scoring or scaling mechanisms that were used in aud iting the various parameters were also ascertained in an attempt to derive a consistent means of comparing data from the various Acute Pain Service gr oups. The Acute Pain Special Interest Group is currently developing suggest ions for a standard data set and associated scoring mechanisms in line with the results of this survey.