Current clinical opinions, attitudes and awareness of interns regarding post-operative and cancer pain management in a tertiary care centre

Abstract

Aim:This prospective study was aimed to assess the opinion, awareness and attitude of interns regarding pain assessment, pain management and common barriers in effective pain therapy for patients experiencing pain.Materials and Methods:A questionnaire including demographic details, knowledge of the tools of pain assessment, choice of drugs used, side effects, lacunae in existing knowledge and barriers in pain management was designed. A total of 160 interns were approached, out of which 149 returned the completed questionnaire. Only a few of them had a chance exposure to cancer pain management but none of them had undergone any formal training, teaching or classes in this field.Results:Most respondents knew that the pain can be measured and the ways to do it. A significant number considered morphine as the preferred drug for managing cancer pain and thought morphine is responsible for addiction and respiratory depression. About 72% interns knew about transdermal preparation of fentanyl and its usage in malignancy but only a few were aware of buprenorphine transdermal patch. Though they were enthusiastic about relieving the cancer patients from suffering, they had limited knowledge of how to achieve this. The common barriers identified by them were lack of adequate knowledge and training and limited availability of opioids.Conclusions:The results of this study emphasize the need of special training programs pain management in order to change the current prevailing situation and improve the quality of analgesia provided to the patients.

Integration of specialized pain control services in palliative care: A nationwide web-based survey

“…[ 34 ] Millions of cancer patients die a horrible death in severe pain and suffering, surely there is a need to bring in other modalities of pain control and specialists who are adept in the use of these modalities to provide relief to all. [ 35 ] This is where pain specialist comes in, they can provide interventional methods when conventional analgesics fail. [ 36 ] If palliative physicians alone are able to provide adequate relief, pain specialists need to be brought in for impeccable assessment and control of pain.…”

One Needle is Better Than Two: The Philosophy Surrounding Use of Local Anesthesia in Northern India

“…Although knowledge about pain management in India does not seem to be well covered in the recent literature, there have been a few small survey studies performed pertaining to the availability of acute pain services 1 (APS) and knowledge of postoperative and cancer pain management by interns. 2 Jain and colleagues 1 performed a survey of anesthesiologists in India to evaluate the existence of an acute pain service at their practicing hospitals and explore pain practices. They define an APS as a "dedicated health care personnel driven service which assesses, monitors and treats pain and side effects of pain medications, on a 24-hour basis. "…”

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“…Proper use of therapeutic approaches should result in excellent pain control in nearly 95% of patients with cancer pain but unfortunately, cancer pain, still remains grossly undertreated throughout the world [5]. Various factors affecting pain management include the institutional setup and the awareness and knowledge of patient, nursing staff and treating physicians [6]. Pain management will be most effective when treatments are individualized after exploring the various physical and non-physical components of pain, and the patient and family are educated and involved in decision making [7].…”