Transitional Pain Services and Clinics: A Scoping Review of Recent Literature

Harvy E Freitag,1 Ryan L Melvin,1 Ryan C Godwin,1,2 Timothy J Ness1 1Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; 2Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USACorrespondence: Timothy J Ness, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of Alabama, PBMR 208, 901 19 th St. S, Birmingham, AL, 35205, USA, Tel +1-205-975-9643, Email tness@uabmc.eduPurpose: The goal of manuscript is to summarize and synthesize the body of literature on Transitional Pain Services and Clinics (TPS/Cs), highlighting models, outcomes, and implementation considerations.Methods: Using a published, Artificial Intelligence-assisted, interactive algorithm, PubMed, CINAHL, and SCOPUS listed literature were searched for all articles related to TPS/Cs published in the last 10 years.Results: 58 relevant articles were identified and grouped into six topics.Conclusion: Multiple models of TPS/Cs were identified. The most commonly described were multidisciplinary clinics of pain physicians, nurses, psychologists, physiologists, and other health-related personnel. Mostly, retrospective literature suggests that TPS/Cs can effectively bridge acute postoperative pain management with sustained long-term care, particularly for patients at higher risk of chronic postsurgical pain and opioid misuse. More prospective and randomized trials are needed.Keywords: transitional pain clinic, transitional pain service, opioid use disorder, chronic post-surgical pain