Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 1990
Comparative StudyTreatment of pain and other symptoms in cancer patients: patterns in a North American and a South American hospital.
The charts of 200 consecutive patients with cancer pain admitted to a major teaching hospital in Edmonton, Canada (n = 100) and in Buenos Aires, Argentina (n = 100) were reviewed to assess the differences between North American (NA) and South American (SA) facilities in patterns of treatment of pain and other symptoms. Criteria for eligibility and methods were identical in both hospitals. Characteristics of patients (age, sex, primary tumor, reason for admission) and attending staff were similar between both hospitals. ⋯ The types of narcotics and the use of adjuvant drugs were significantly different between NA and SA. Nonpharmacologic treatments, antiemetics, and laxatives were more frequently used in NA. These results suggest that there are significant differences in symptomatic management of advanced cancer between institutions in NA and SA.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 1990
Similarities in pain descriptions of four different ethnic-culture groups.
The purpose of this study was to identify pain terms commonly used by Hispanics, American Indians, blacks, and whites to describe painlike experiences. Subjects were asked to rate the intensity of the terms pain, ache, and hurt on a Visual Analogue Scale. Following this procedure, they were given three separate copies of the McGill Pain Questionnaire and asked to choose the words that represented pain, ache, and hurt, respectively. ⋯ There was a significant difference between the intensity level of the three terms (p less than 0.001). Word descriptors that distinguished pain from ache and hurt are presented. The importance of these findings for clinical practice is discussed.