Patient satisfaction with a neurological specialist consultation for headache.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate patient satisfaction with a specialist consultation for headache and thus identify subgroups of headache patients more satisfied than others.

DESIGN

A survey of consecutive patients referred to a neurologist for headache.

SETTING

Neurological outpatient clinics in North Norway.

PATIENTS: We included 889 consecutive patients referred to a specialist centre for headache during a period of 2 years. Using a questionnaire, we recorded patients' satisfaction with the potential treatment initiated by the specialist.

RESULTS

Sixty-three percent of migraine patients (95% CI, 0.58 to 0.68) were satisfied with the consultation, compared to 44% of patients with non-migrainous headache (95% CI, 0.40 to 0.70), (p = 0.01). Altogether 481 patients had some kind of measure recommended by the neurologist, and 317 of these (66%) were satisfied (95% CI, 0.62 to 0.70). Patients with tension-type headache and those who were not prescribed specific treatment modalities were less satisfied.

CONCLUSION

The study confirms that patients with headache are satisfied with a neurological specialist consideration, especially in the case of migraine.