Improving the Pain Experience for Hospitalized Patients With Cancer

Purpose: To determine the effect of an evidence-based Pain Stoppers bundled intervention on pain management satisfaction scores and actual pain intensity scores of hospitalized patients with cancer, as well as nurses’ knowledge and attitudes on pain.

Participants & Setting: Participants and nurses took part in a preintervention group (n = 173 and 11, respectively) and a postintervention group (n = 157 and 9, respectively) at a National Cancer Institute–designated comprehensive cancer center.

Methodologic Approach: A pre- and postintervention design was used. Evidence-based strategies included staff education, improved staff communication, adoption of caring behaviors and timely responses, improved patient education, and efforts to maintain patients’ analgesic levels.

Findings: Patient satisfaction with staff improved from preintervention to postintervention. No statistically significant differences were noted in actual pain intensity scores between the groups; however, fewer patients in the postintervention group received chemotherapy within 30 days, and more were admitted for symptom management versus chemotherapy administration. In addition, no difference was noted between RN group scores, although there was statistically significant improvement on individual questions in the postintervention group.

Implications for Nursing: Implementation of a Pain Stoppers bundled intervention may be effective in improving the pain experience for hospitalized patients with solid tumor cancers.