Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
-
Interest in satisfaction with pain management as a pain-related outcome variable wavered when investigators found poor correlations with pain intensity when they measured satisfaction with pain management rather than satisfaction with pain level. The aim was to explore the relationship between satisfaction with pain level and pain intensity among patients receiving ongoing outpatient cancer care. In a comparative, secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional sample of 806 cancer patients (57% male, mean age 56 ± 13 years, 77% Caucasian), the authors measured satisfaction with pain level as a single item (yes, no, not sure) and pain intensity as an average of current, least, and worst pain intensity (all 0-10 scales) in the past 24 hours. ⋯ With pair wise post hoc comparisons, mean API scores of satisfied patients were significantly lower than those who were not satisfied or not sure. In contrast with other researchers who have not found associations between satisfaction with pain management and pain intensity, the authors demonstrated that when satisfaction is measured specifically, patients with higher pain intensity are not satisfied. The authors recommend that researchers use "satisfaction with pain level" instead of "satisfaction with pain management" as the pain satisfaction outcome.
-
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disease associated with both chronic pain and acute painful events referred to as vaso-occlusive crises. Individuals with SCD suffer from a multitude of medical complications in addition to pain. Patients often are stigmatized as "drug-seeking" and receive inadequate pain management. ⋯ Negative attitudes trended lower over the three time points (p = .07), but a significant decrease in the negative attitudes score was only noted for T1-T3 (Z = -2.16.17, p = .03). Attendance at an educational SCD conference was an effective means to improve knowledge and decrease negative attitudes among clinicians. These differences were maintained at 2 months postconference.