1St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea 2St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea 3St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea 4The Catholic University of Korea 5The Catholic University of Korea
Abstract
Purpose: This study was carried out to obtain basic data for developing effective pain management by identifying the positive and negative determinants for pain management in both cancer patients and their nurses. Method: The participants were 85 cancer patients and 78 nurses at C university hospital in Seoul. Data were collected from December 2004 to March 2005 using structured questionnaires. Results: The level of pain peaked at 5.02 when going into the hospital, and was then lowered to 2.08. The waiting time for analgesics was less than 30 minutes in 81.1% of the patients and for 68.2% answered that they reported their pain when the pain was no more endurable. Just over eighty percent (80.6%) of the patients were satisfied with the pain management. Only 10.3% of the nurses used a standardized tool for assessing patients, pain and 64.1% gave analgesics whenever patients complained of pain, while 19.2% did not when patients complained too frequently. Nurses who were unsatisfied with pain management accounted for 85.4% of the participants. Patients showed higher levels of barriers to pain management than nurses. Conclusion: There is a need to give cancer patients and nurses appropriate information on effective cancer pain management.
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