Research Project
2769876
DESCRIPTION: The long-term aim of this proposal is to improve cancer pain management practice. The primary objective is to provide a three-day course on Improving Clinical Practice in Cancer Pain Management to expand dissemination of pain management knowledge for the nursing care of individuals with cancer. Three workshops for 40 participants each will be conducted by nationally recognized experts in the area of pain management within a framework of continuous quality improvement (CQI). Participants will be competitively selected from nurses employed in hospitals, ambulatory care, physicians' offices and home care settings across the country. Process evaluation will focus on all aspects of the course and follow up period, and include participants as well as administrative staff (administrator, nursing executive and chief of staff). Outcome evaluation will include changing knowledge and attitudes toward pain for participants and selected nursing staff, changes in pain management audits, implementing participants' goals at their individual institutions, decreasing pain management barriers at individual institutions, and incorporating pain management into institutional CQI programs. Outcomes will be evaluated using a reliable and valid Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Related to Pain, a published Pain Management Audit Tool, and tested methods for goal evaluation. The course will impact 120 health care settings caring for cancer patients throughout the country.
