Abstract
Although pain is one of the most common symptoms of cancer and an important issue for care of both patient and family, most nurses' knowledge and attitudes are inadequate. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to develop nursing standards for pain management to improve nurses' assessment and skills in managing cancer pain, to relieve the patient’s pain, and to reduce patients' daily side-effects.
The study design was comprised of two groups for pre- and post-intervention comparison. Subjects included cancer pain patients and nurses and from a district hospital in central Taiwan. A simple randomization was used to select one unit as experimental group and one for control group from among five medical units. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews, and analyzed by descriptive analyses such as number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, interferential analyses such as Chi-square or Fisher's exact test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
Seventy patients participated in this study, with 35 patients for each group. However, no significant demographic differences were found between the two groups and before intervention. After implementation of pain management standards, the pain intensity, the overall pain affect on general activity and mood, and the waiting time for pain medications were less for patients in the experimental group than for in those of control group. In contrast, patients' satisfaction, the frequency of non-pharmacological approaches to pain management, the rate of communicating to patients about the importance of pain control, and the consistency and completeness in documenting pain intensity were higher for subjects in the experimental group than for those in the control group. However, except for walking, sleeping, and happiness, all other variables showed significant differences between groups.
The findings of this study indicated that the implementation of nursing standards in pain management is effective, can serve as a guide for nurses to assess and manage patients' pain and to improve the completeness of documentation. Meanwhile, patient's pain intensity can be reduced, and satisfaction can be increased.
The study design was comprised of two groups for pre- and post-intervention comparison. Subjects included cancer pain patients and nurses and from a district hospital in central Taiwan. A simple randomization was used to select one unit as experimental group and one for control group from among five medical units. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews, and analyzed by descriptive analyses such as number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, interferential analyses such as Chi-square or Fisher's exact test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
Seventy patients participated in this study, with 35 patients for each group. However, no significant demographic differences were found between the two groups and before intervention. After implementation of pain management standards, the pain intensity, the overall pain affect on general activity and mood, and the waiting time for pain medications were less for patients in the experimental group than for in those of control group. In contrast, patients' satisfaction, the frequency of non-pharmacological approaches to pain management, the rate of communicating to patients about the importance of pain control, and the consistency and completeness in documenting pain intensity were higher for subjects in the experimental group than for those in the control group. However, except for walking, sleeping, and happiness, all other variables showed significant differences between groups.
The findings of this study indicated that the implementation of nursing standards in pain management is effective, can serve as a guide for nurses to assess and manage patients' pain and to improve the completeness of documentation. Meanwhile, patient's pain intensity can be reduced, and satisfaction can be increased.
| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 33-44 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | 新臺北護理期刊 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2006 |
