• Sung-Nam Lim, Hye-Sook Han, Ki-Hyeung Lee, Sang-Cheol Lee, JungHan Kim, JiNa Yun, SongGon Park, MinJae Park, YoonHee Choe, Hun-Mo Ryoo, KyungHee Lee, DoYeun Cho, Dae Young Zang, and JinHo Choi.
• 1 Department of Internal Medicine, Haeundae-Paik Hospital, College of Medicine Inje University , Busan, South Korea .
• J Palliat Med. 2015 Mar 1;18(3):225-31.

BackgroundPain is one of the most common and distressing symptoms in patients with cancer, with a high prevalence of 90%. Appropriate pain assessment is very important in managing cancer pain.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to (1) evaluate patient satisfaction with pain control therapy using a self-reporting pain assessment tool, (2) explore the usefulness of a self-reporting assessment tool for patients and physicians, and (3) evaluate patient perception of pain management and opioid analgesics.MethodsWe enrolled a total of 587 South Korean adult cancer patients hospitalized for five days or more. Pain assessment using a self-reporting pain assessment tool was performed by patients themselves from Day 1 to Day 5. The average pain intensity on a numeric rating scale (NRS) and the frequency of breakthrough pain between Day 1 and Day 5 were recorded with a self-reporting pain assessment tool. We evaluated patient satisfaction with pain control and the usefulness of a self-reporting pain assessment tool for patients and physicians on Day 5.ResultsAmong the 587 enrolled patients, 551, excluding 36 patients who violated inclusion criteria, were analyzed. The pain satisfaction rate was 79.5%, and only 6.2% of assessed patients had a negative pain management index (PMI). However, symmetry analysis for pain intensity between patient and physician showed low agreement (kappa=0.21). The patients with dissatisfaction for cancer pain control expressed negative attitudes toward using opioid analgesics and misconceptions regarding pain management. The satisfaction for using a self-reporting pain assessment tool was 79.2% in patients and 86.4% in physicians, respectively.ConclusionThe use of a self-reporting pain assessment tool as a communication instrument provides an effective foundation for evaluating pain intensity in cancer pain management. A more individualized approach to patient education about pain management may improve patient outcome.

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