Palliative Care for Adult Patients With Cancer

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Table of Contents

Project Description: Addressing the Needs of Adult Cancer Patients
Study Design: Quasi-Experiment as the Tool for Analysis
Evaluation Tools Development: Significance
Pilot-testing the Tools: Procedure Description
Setting and Sample: Selecting the Participants
Confidentiality: Maintaining Participant Security Levels High
Intervention and the Associated Procedures: Enabling the Team
Instruments and the Measurement of Success: Mixed Design
Data Collection: Gathering the Necessary Information
References

Project Description: Addressing the Needs of Adult Cancer Patients

Pain management is an integral part of the process of addressing the needs of cancer patients (Greco et al., 2013). Because of the frequent painful experiences of the target population, it is crucial to develop a homogenous approach that will lead to the long-awaited relief and help improve the quality of the patients’ life (Adam, Burton, Bond, Bruin, & Murchie, 2016). By focusing on cooperation and communication as the key tool in identifying the needs of cancer patients and catering to them successfully, a team of pain management nurses will be able to reduce the intensity of pain experienced by cancer patients faster and more efficiently.

Clinical Question: What Needs to Be Explored

Do adult patients with cancer pain (P) feel less pain when receiving palliative care from the palliative care team (I) if compared to conventional care practice (C) in terms of pain intensity reduction and improved pain management (O)?

Planned Intervention: Introducing the Palliative Care Team

The palliative care team trained to alleviate pain in cancer patients will create an environment in which the social and emotional needs of the target population can be identified along with the issues associated with painful experiences (Vuong et al., 2016). Thus, the process of managing pain is bound to become much faster and more productive (Saturno, Martinez-Nicolas, Robles-Garcia, López-Soriano, & Angel-García, 2014). Furthermore, the communication between nurses and cancer patients is expected to improve significantly because of a better understanding of the patients’ emotional needs (Kashyap, Joshi, Vig, Singh, & Bhatnagar, 2017).

Study Design: Quasi-Experiment as the Tool for Analysis

Seeing that there is little control over certain extraneous variables such as patients’ age, comorbid issues, etc., the adoption of a quasi-experimental design should be viewed as the proper way of conducting the study. The identified approach will allow exploring the effect of both interventions and compare the outcomes to determine the best strategy.

Evaluation Tools Development: Significance

It is crucial to develop appropriate evaluation tools because of the ambiguous nature of the data. Since pain perception differs significantly among patients based on their pain tolerance levels, providing an objective assessment of the strategies and their efficacy may be problematic. Therefore, the tools that will help determine the changes in each patient’s pain levels are crucial. By creating the framework that will allow assessing the success of pain alleviation, one will be able to determine the efficacy of the suggested intervention.

Pilot-testing the Tools: Procedure Description

The tools will be pre-tested so that the veracity levels could remain high. First, the current guidelines regarding the identification of pain will be reviewed and systematized. Afterward, the indicators of pain will be identified and categorized accordingly. After the assessment of the existing pain identification techniques, a new and improved approach will be created based on a set of specific pain indicators.

Setting and Sample: Selecting the Participants

The research will be carried out in the environment of a local cancer treatment facility. The participants will be recruited from the patients of the hospital. The medical; diagnosis of cancer and the presence of cancer-related pain will be the key inclusion criteria. Furthermore, it is necessary to make sure that the participants should have a life expectancy of at least a year.

Confidentiality: Maintaining Participant Security Levels High

To make sure that the patient’s data should remain secure, one will have to consider using study codes as opposed to the information that will help identify the participants. The identifiers such as names will have to be removed from face sheets of the data collection instruments. Finally, the data will have to be stored in a secure database with a strong password (Shinde, Gordon, Sharma, Gross, & Davis, 2013).

Intervention and the Associated Procedures: Enabling the Team

To improve the quality of care for cancer patients and address pain management accordingly, one will have to consider building a team of pain management experts. The focus must be maintained on communication with the patient and the use of empathy as the primary tool for establishing a connection with the target population. The incorporation of the evidence-based model will also serve as the tool for the consistent acquisition of new information that will help provide better services and cater to the needs of cancer patients more efficiently.

Instruments and the Measurement of Success: Mixed Design

The instruments that will be used to assess the changes will allow for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. A verbal rating scale (VRS) offers primarily qualitative data, whereas a numerical rating scale (NRS) allows evaluating the changes in the patients’ perception of pain from a quantitative perspective. Therefore, a mixed approach will have to be adopted.

Data Collection: Gathering the Necessary Information

Methods of Collection: Interviews and Surveys as the Key Tools

The verbal information will be retrieved from the interviews with the participants of the study. Thus, a detailed analysis of the change and a deep insight into it will become a possibility. Furthermore, surveys will be deployed to collect numerical data that will be used for a quantitative assessment. Consequently, the two approaches toward pain alleviation can be compared.

Testing Frequency: Weekly Assessment as a Standard

To make sure that not a single change in the patients’ ability to control pain should pass unnoticed, one will have to record the data every week. As a result, a profound analysis can be conducted. The information retrieved in the process will serve as the foundation for evaluating the new pain management framework and improving it.

References

Adam, R., Burton, C. D., Bond, C. M., Bruin, M. D., & Murchie, P. (2016). Can patient-reported measurements of pain be used to improve cancer pain management? A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 22(1), 1-10. Web.

Greco, M. T., Roberto, A., Corli, O., Deandrea, S., Bandieri, E., Cavuto, S., & Apolone, G. (2013). Quality of cancer pain management: An update of a systematic review of undertreatment of patients with cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 32(38), 4149-4156. Web.

Kashyap, K., Joshi, S., Vig, S., Singh, V., & Bhatnagar, S. (2017). Impact of scrambler therapy on pain management and quality of life in cancer patients: A study of twenty cases. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 23(1), 18–23. Web.

Saturno, P. J., Martinez-Nicolas, I., Robles-Garcia, I. S., López-Soriano, F., & Angel-García, D. (2014). Development and pilot test of a new set of good practice indicators for chronic cancer pain management. European Journal of Pain, 2(1), 1-11. Web.

Shinde, S., Gordon, P., Sharma, P., Gross, J., & Davis, M. P. (2013). Use of non-opioid analgesics as adjuvants to opioid analgesia for cancer pain management in an inpatient palliative unit: Does this improve pain control and reduce opioid requirements? Supportive Care in Cancer, 23(3), 695-703. Web.

Vuong, S., Pulenzas, N., DeAngelis, C., Torabi, S., Ahrari, S., Tsao, M.,… Chow, E. (2016). Inadequate pain management in cancer patients attending an outpatient palliative radiotherapy clinic. Supportive Care in Cancer, 24(2),887–892. Web.

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