Objectives:

The information provided by the Labor Conditions and Health Surveys (ECTS) allows for the formulation of public action programs that generate changes, set priorities and evaluate trends. Since 1987, when the first ECTS was carried out in Spain, this instrument has been consolidated as a data source for the information and communication technology system. The results show the need to establish the advance of the technological innovations in health and biomedical research. These advances will be decisive in the improvement of health, since they will involve new forms of medical care that contribute to the increase of life expectancy, the reduction of pain and the management of diseases. The objective of this study is to assess the level of acceptance of new technologies in physicians who treat pain through specific units.

Matherial and method:

A study was carried out to verify the use of ICTs in doctors who perform their care and research work in Pain Units. This study consists of an online survey, sent via email to the students of the Master's Degree in Pain Treatment at the University of Salamanca. After the systematic collection of the information, the statistical analysis was carried out, addressing the frequency of the variables and the statistically significant relationships relevant to our study. Subsequently, a factor analysis, a cluster analysis and new composite variables are constructed to synthesize the data, to which, finally, an analysis was made using a logistic regression methodology through the Binomial Logit model.

Results:

Of the medical professionals who answered our survey, it was obtained that those who are men and work in Pain Units were 39.46 % and in Palliative Care they were 21.35 %. Adding this data, we obtain that 75.94 % of professionals work in public entities, 9.72 % in private entities and 11.05 % in both. More than 55 % of the professionals surveyed "never use computers or Information and Communication Technologies for the remote realization of diagnostic evaluation or prescription of therapeutic measures".

Conclutions:

The results obtained show that Pain Units physicians consider the applications of Information and Communication Technologies to be a relevant element for clinical practice. In addition, given the clinical experience of professionals, the need for organizational changes associated with new computer systems is confirmed.

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