Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2019
Patient patterns and perspectives on using opioid regimens for chronic cancer pain.
With increasing attention to the undertreatment of cancer pain in parallel with concerns about opioid misuse, little is known about how patients with advanced cancer adhere to opioid regimens for chronic cancer pain. ⋯ Patients commonly felt conflicted about using prescribed long-acting opioids to manage cancer pain due to concurrent perceptions of their risks and benefits, and they set their own parameters for opioid-taking practices. Intentional and unintentional deviations from prescribed opioid schedules highlight the need to enhance adherence communication, education, and counseling, to optimize the use of long-acting opioids as a component of cancer pain management.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2019
The effects of adding reassurance statements: Cancer patients' preferences for phrases in end-of-life discussions.
When discussing end-of-life issues with cancer patients, the addition of reassurance statements is considered helpful. However, patients' preferences for such statements have not been systematically demonstrated. ⋯ Cancer patients systematically preferred reassurance statements. In end-of-life discussions, especially with patients with task-oriented coping, clinicians may provide additional reassurance statements.