Nurses' Attitude, Practices and Barriers towards PainManagement of Elderly Patients with Cancer

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Gerontolgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt

Abstract

Background: The population of elderly patients is growing with increasing prevalence of cancer diagnoses and cancerrelated
pain syndromes. Cancer pain occur at any time in the disease's progression. It is a multidimensional and complex
phenomenon that need proper assessment, management and evaluation based on current nursing knowledge and
practices. Despite the fact that developing adequate pain control is a top priority for cancer patients. Many barriers to
undertreatment exist among professionals, which might have an impact on successful pain management. Aim: to assess
nurses' attitude, practices, and barriers towards pain management of elderly patients with cancer. Method: In this study. a
descriptive correlational research design was used. The study was carried out at medical, surgical, and hematological
departments in Oncology Center Mansoura University. A convenience sample of 122 nurses was used in this study. 4
tools were used to collect data.: Nurses' structured interview schedule, nurses' attitude toward pain management
interview schedule, nurses' practices interview schedule regarding cancer pain management and nurses' barriers for
cancer pain management interview schedule. Results: majority of studied nurses (82.8%) had positive attitude toward
pain management, 91% of them had poor practice regarding cancer pain management and 60.7% of studied nurses had
little barrier toward pain management of elderly patients with cancer. Conclusion: Nurses' have positive attitude and
poor practices regarding pain management of elderly patients with cancer. The main barriers to effective cancer pain
management were inadequate knowledge about pain management and opioids. Recommendation: developing standard
guidelines for pain management for oncology hospital staff nurses.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Mansoura Nursing Journal
Volume 9, Issue 1
January 2022
Pages 23-30

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics