Opportunities and Challenges of the Implementation of the ICD-11 Pain Classification in the Clinical Routines of an Interdisciplinary Persistent Pain Service in New Zealand

The newly conceptualized classification of chronic pain in the ICD-11 will come into effect in 2022. Over the coming years healthcare providers will gain experiences and will have to deal with challenges of the implementation of this new classification within their institutions. In the context of an international field study, we introduced the ICD-11 pain classification in a pain service of a city hospital in New Zealand. This presentation will introduce the audience to the opportunities and challenges of the implementation in a clinical setting. We will present data from the field study regarding the applicability of the new classification in an interdisciplinary service. The study aimed to examine the quality and clinical utility of the new categories. Our participating clinicians, first trained in the application of the new classification, allocated diagnostic codes to consecutively admitted patients. The diagnostic assessment of the patients was standardized by the use of a classification algorithm, which guided diagnosticians through the new diagnostic criteria of the different pain conditions. Our analyses show the new classification categories to have high clinical utility ratings, high inter-rater agreement, and to be exhaustive and mutually exclusive.