None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Persistent pelvic pain is pain in the area of the pelvis that has been present for at least three months, it is a common condition that can cause a lot of disruption to regular activities. Long wait times have been identified as delaying treatment for persistent pelvic pain, with wait between referral and initial appointment presently standing at 12 months at the Mercy Hospital for Women. Whilst patients await their initial appointment there is currently no care provided to them. We propose to apply a new system to manage patients referred to our gynaecology clinic while they are on the waitlist through communicating with their general practitioner. We will provide the general practitioner with materials that include management pathways to start treatment of persistent pelvic pain while the patient awaits their appointment and communicate with them until patients are seen at the gynaecology clinic. This research project aims to look at how useful actively managing patients while they wait for their first visit at a gynaecology specialist clinic is in terms reduction of pelvic pain while waiting. This waitlist active management could not only prevent up to 12 months of further suffering but also potentially reduce the number of patients requiring a specialist appointment at all.
Interventions
Patients referred by their GP to the Gynaecology specialist clinic as the Mercy Hospital for Women with persistent pelvic pain will be identified and contacted for participation in this study. Consenting patients will be randomly allocated equally to the study's control or active arm.
Active arm: patients will be triaged and placed on the waitlist the same as the control group, however the GP will be also sent education and guidelines on how to manage the patient’s persistent pelvic pain (PPP) p
Patients referred by their GP to the Gynaecology specialist clinic as the Mercy Hospital for Women with persistent pelvic pain will be identified and contacted for participation in this study. Consenting patients will be randomly allocated equally to the study's control or active arm. Active arm: patients will be triaged and placed on the waitlist the same as the control group, however the GP will be also sent education and guidelines on how to manage the patient’s persistent pelvic pain (PPP) prior to the first appointment. In this group it will be communicated with the GP that it is expected that the GP will initiate treatment according to these guidelines prior to the patient being seen in clinic from this point, patients will be seen by their GPs as per the GP's discretion. The aim of management whilst on the waitlist will be to manage the PPP by stopping their periods and becoming amenorrhoeic. GPs will have the ability to communicate routinely with the specialist clinic via an email address for any questions which will be checked weekly by a clinician from the clinic. Like the control group, patients in the active group will eventually be seen in the gynaecology specialist clinic at the Mercy as per waitlist times. They would however been managed while waiting for their initial visit in clinic. GPs will be provided with a hormone management plan aimed to create amenorrhoea, or as close to as possible, and with as few side effects as possible. This is a standard guideline in the treatment of persistent pelvic pain that includes: Combined oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP), Progesterone only option and long-acting reversible contraceptives (IUD). Intervention period depends on the Mercy's gynaecology specialist clinic waitlist times, currently this is estimated at 12 months. At the 12 months mark, GPs will be asked to complete a satisfaction survey. They will be asked to note the number of times the patient was seen by them for pelvic pain complaints in the previous 12 months and whether the patient followed the recommended course of treatment, as provided by the Mercy Hospital for Women gynaecology specialists.
Sponsors
University of Melbourne
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
• Patients aged 18 years or older referred to the general gynaecology clinic whose primary or secondary complain is persistent pelvic pain (pain occurring for >3 months) • English speakers • Pre-menopausal
Exclusion criteria
• Pregnancy or actively trying to conceive • Breastfeeding • Current actively managed malignancy • Other unstable medical or surgical condition that may impact management of persistent pelvic pain • Inability to provide informed consent • Prior hysterectomy
Outcome results
None listed