Table 1.
Referral criteria for admission to the Transitional Pain Service.a
| “Pain alert” patients |
| Presurgical chronic pain |
| History of drug abuse |
| Currently on opioid, methadone, or buprenorphine maintenance therapy |
| Severe postsurgical pain |
| Prolonged Acute Pain Service stay |
| Surgical patients with repeat Acute Pain Service consultation |
| Medically stable postsurgical patients with complex pain problems that prevent discharge |
| High postsurgical opioid consumption |
| Consumption of > 90 MME/day |
| Methadone or buprenorphine patients without a community pain specialist |
| Patients discharged with a prescription for a long-acting opioid |
| Interventional postsurgical procedures (e.g., stump catheters postamputation) |
| Emotional distress |
| Depression |
| Anxiety |
| Pain catastrophizing |
| Other psychosocial concern(s) identified by questionnaires or Acute Pain Service/Transitional Pain Service member |
aAdapted with permission from Katz et al.59
MME = morphine milligram equivalents.