Nurse$sA perceptions of cancer patient$sA pain

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A descriptive study of 52 nurses' perceptions of the pain suffered by patients with documented pain from terminal or metastatic cancer was conducted in a midwestern university hospital over a 33-week period. A questionnaire was used which asked the nurses to assess the pain of one specific patient for whom they were caring and then asked about their beliefs concerning the use of pain drugs for patients in general who have metastatic or terminal cancer. Analysis of the data revealed that 89% of the nurses believed that the patients were receiving adequate medication for pain control and yet 67 % assessed that the patients suffered moderate pain. The goal for narcotic administration for 58% of the nurses was to reduce pain rather than relieve it. Although addiction appeared not to be a conscious factor in these nurses' assessment process, the data seem to indicate that they often perceived moderate relief of pain as an appropriate goal.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: