Inadequate pain relief is a global concern for patients and practitioners. Many barriers still exist within the health care system to properly assess and treat pain. This article identifies the need to properly assess pain and develop a treatment plan that includes a discussion with the patient. Pain is not always cured and requires medical management the same as any other disease process.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ABC News. (1997, April 4). 20/20. New York: ABC.
2.
Ashburn, M., & Rice, L. (1998). The management of pain. New York: Churchill Livingstone.
3.
Breitbart, W. (1989). Psychiatric management of cancer pain. Cancer, 63, 2336-2342.
4.
Daut, R., & Cleeland, C. (1982). The prevalence and severity of pain in cancer. Cancer, 50, 1913-1918.
5.
Foley, K. (1979). Pain syndromes in patients with cancer. In J. Bonica & V. Ventafridda (Eds.), Advances in pain research and therapy (Vol. 2., 59-76). New York: Raven.
6.
Grond, S., Sech, D., Diefenbach, C., Radbruch, L., & Lehmann, K. (1996). Assessment of cancer pain: a prospective evaluation in 2266 cancer patients referred to a pain service. Pain, 64, 107-114.
7.
Grossman, S., Sheidler, V., Swedeen, K., Mucenski, J., & Piantadosi, S. (1991). Correlation of patient and caregiver ratings of cancer pain. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 6, 53-57.
8.
Larue, F., Colleau, S., Fontaine, A., & Brasseur, L. (1995). Oncologists and primary care physicians’ attitudes towards pain control and morphine prescribing in France. Cancer, 76, 2181-2185.
9.
Max, M., Donovan, M., Miaskowski, C., Ward, S.E., Gordon, D., & Bookbinder, M. (1995). American pain society quality improvement guidelines for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Journal of the American Medical Association, 274, 1874-1880.
10.
McCaffery, M., & Pasero, C. (1999). Pain: Clinical manual for nursing practice (2nd ed.). St. Louis, MO: C.V. Mosby.
11.
Morris, J., Mor, V., Goldberg, R., Sherwood, S., Greer, D., & Hiris, J. (1986). The effects of treatment settings and patient characteristics on pain in terminal cancer patients: A report from the nation hospice study. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 39, 27-35.
12.
Portney, R., & Hagen, N. (1990). Breakthrough pain: Definition, prevalence and characteristics. Pain, 41, 273-282.
13.
Von Roenn, J., Cleeland, C., Gonin, R., Hatfield, A., & Pandya, K. (1993). Physicians’ attitudes and practice in cancer pain management: A survey from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Annals of Internal Medicine, 119, 121-126.
14.
Ward, S.E., Goldberg, N., & Miller-McCauley, V. (1993). Patient-related barriers to management of cancer pain. Pain, 52, 319-324.
15.
World Health Organization. (1995). Cancer pain relief (2nd ed.). Geneva: Author.
