The preliminary application of assessment system for cancer pain management

Y. Yu, J. Zhou, Q. Li, F. Bian, C.-S. Cao, X. Jin, Y. Liu

Department of Medical Oncology, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Xuzhou Hospital, Affiliated to Medical College of Southeast University and Xuzhou Central Hospital, Xuzhou, China. lylyly7011@163.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: To apply the assessment system for cancer pain management preliminarily, explore the issues in cancer pain diagnosis and treatment, and analyze the differences between oncology department and non-oncology in cancer pain diagnosis and treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The validated questionnaires were collected from department of medical oncology of three hospitals including Xuzhou Central Hospital. Subjects included 41 doctors, 43 nurses, 50 patients, and 12 wards. The data was analyzed to find the main issues as far in cancer pain management. Twelve units of oncology department and 15 units of non-oncology in three hospitals including Xuzhou Central Hospital were assessed with assessment system for cancer pain management. Rank test was conducted to analyze the differences in cancer pain diagnosis and treatment between oncology department and non-oncology.

RESULTS: The average scores of doctors, nurses, wards were 85.4, 88.5, 83.8, respectively, while the average score of patients was 68.7. The percentile of analgesic efficacy and safety in patients was 81.7 and the percentile of analgesic opinion changes was only 55.8, indicating that it was necessary to enhance the education of concept about pain management. The average scores of assessment were 82.2 ± 2.1 and 39.9 ± 3.6 for oncology and non-oncology, respectively. The Wilcoxon value of Rank test was 120.0, indicating the significant difference between the two (p < 0.01). It suggests that there is still a great shortage in cancer pain diagnosis and treatment in non-oncology, and there is an urgent need to further strengthen the cancer pain management-related continuing education.

CONCLUSIONS: In cancer pain treatment-related clinical work, patients’ pain education still needs to be strengthened; in comparison with oncology, the cancer pain management-related continuing education for non-oncology also needs to be strengthened.

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