International journal of palliative nursing
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Neuropathic pain can be distressing and difficult to treat, and remains a problem for a significant proportion of palliative care patients. This article considers the identification and assessment of neuropathic pain, and highlights some of the challenges specific to the palliative care population. Further discussion includes definitions, pathophysiology and implications for nursing practice.
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Many tools exist to assess the symptoms and needs of palliative care patients, but no tool has been validated to prioritise patients referred for specialist inpatient palliative care. The aim of this study was to produce and validate such a tool. A prospective pilot study produced a Support Team Assessment Schedule- (STAS-) based tool--the Admission Assessment Tool (AAT)--and compared this with the existing system of triage at the Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh. ⋯ The hospice's multidisciplinary team assessed the urgency of each patient's admission. The overall correct classification rate was approximately two thirds, but false positive rates were high and there was poor inter-rate correlation. It is concluded the AAT has not been validated.