Congress Abstracts 2003

11

IMPROVING CANCER PAIN MANAGEMENT FOR HOMECARE NURSES. April Hazard Vallerand, PhD, RN, Cheryl Riley-Doucet, MEd, RN, Susan M. Hasenau, MSN, RNC, CNNP, and Thomas Templin, PhD, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

In order for nurses to change practice, especially in the area of pain management, nurses must be experts in pain management strategies and nurses must have the communication skills to present viable options in an acceptable manner both to the physician and to the patient and/or caregiver. A significant concern is the lack of mastery of educational programs regarding pain management and utilization in practice by nurses. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a structured educational intervention directed at homecare caring for patients with cancer-related pain. The Conceptual Model of Symptom Management served as the study’s conceptual framework. The study used a mixed method 2 x 2 (Nurse Intervention (yes/no) x Patient/Caregiver Intervention (yes/no) longitudinal multi-level design with four treatment levels. This poster reports on the data from the nurses participating in the study. The nurses in the intervention group received a basic session on pain management and communication skills, then an advanced session on pain management and assertiveness skills 4 to 6 weeks later. The data analysis of nurses’ responses revealed that knowledge and attitudes of the nurses increased significantly following the basic intervention, maintained the increase for the four weeks prior to the advanced class, and continued to increase after the advanced intervention. Barriers to pain control perceived by the nurses decreased significantly following the basic class and again decreased significantly following the advanced class. The intervention increased the nurses’ level of perceived control over pain significantly following the basic intervention. This increased level of perception of control over pain was maintained and continued to increase following the advanced intervention. The findings demonstrated the effectiveness of a 2-tiered educational intervention for homecare nurses caring for patients with cancer-related pain.