Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2008
Effects of a pain education program on nurses' pain knowledge, attitudes and pain assessment practices in China.
The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of a Pain Education Program (PEP) for nurses in China. The effects of PEP were measured in a quasi-experimental design. A total of 196 nurses who met the inclusion criteria from five nursing units in two teaching hospitals participated in the study. ⋯ In addition, experimental group nurses had an improvement in pain assessment. The percentage of nurses who correctly used the Changhai Pain Scale to assess patients' pain intensity increased significantly after the PEP, and the increased usage of the assessment tool between experimental and control groups also shows a statistical difference in trend (chi(2)=93.281, P<0.001). The PEP has been demonstrated to be effective in improving nurses' pain knowledge, attitudes, and assessment.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2008
The patient dignity inventory: a novel way of measuring dignity-related distress in palliative care.
Quality palliative care depends on a deep understanding of distress facing patients nearing death. Yet, many aspects of psychosocial, existential and spiritual distress are often overlooked. The aim of this study was to test a novel psychometric--the Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI)--designed to measure various sources of dignity-related distress among patients nearing the end of life. ⋯ Evidence for concurrent validity was reported by way of significant associations between PDI factors and concurrent measures of distress. The PDI is a valid and reliable new instrument, which could assist clinicians to routinely detect end-of-life dignity-related distress. Identifying these sources of distress is a critical step toward understanding human suffering and should help clinicians deliver quality, dignity-conserving end-of-life care.