Physician-related barriers to cancer pain management with opioid analgesics: A systematic review

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramune Jacobsen, MS, MPH ◽  
Per Sjøgren, MD, DMS ◽  
Claus Møldrup, PhD ◽  
Lona Christrup, PhD

Objective: The purpose of this review is to summarize the results of studies on physician-related barriers to cancer pain management with opioid analgesics.Methods: A literature search was conducted in PUBMED, using a combined text word and MeSH heading search strategy. Those articles whose full texts were not available in PUBMED were retrieved from the electronic databases of specific journals.Results: Sixty-five relevant articles, published in the period from 1986 to 2006, were identified. Physicians’ barriers to cancer pain management were studied in questionnaire surveys and in the reviews of drug prescribing documents. The results of the articles found were analyzed with respect to (a) knowledge, beliefs, concerns, problems endorsed or acknowledged by physicians treating cancer pain, (b) physicians’ skills in pain assessment, and (c) adequacy of opioid prescription.Conclusions: This review revealed mostly general and common physician-related barriers to cancer pain management: concerns about side effects to opioids, prescription of not efficient doses of opioids, and very poor prescription for the treatment of side effects from opioids. In the future, the evaluation of the influence of cultural-social-economical background, as well as the differences between the various specialists involved in the care of patients with cancer, should be explored to better understand physicians’ barriers and more effectively address them in interventional and educational programs.

Author(s):  
Anna Cecilia Tenorio ◽  
Akhila Reddy

This chapter discusses the de Stoutz et al. retrospective review of patients with cancer pain who developed dose-limiting toxicities and underwent opioid rotation that resulted in improvement of symptoms related to opioid induced neurotoxicity, uncontrolled pain, and reduction in morphine equivalent daily dose. This study is the first to establish that opioid rotation, which is substituting one opioid with another using established equianalgesic conversion ratios, is a valuable tool in cancer pain management. This chapter describes the basics of the study, including funding, year study began, year study was published, study location, who was studied, who was excluded, how many patients, study design, study intervention, follow-up, endpoints, results, and criticism and limitations. The chapter briefly reviews other relevant studies and information, gives a summary and discusses implications, and concludes with a relevant clinical case.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-217
Author(s):  
Robert Jr ◽  
◽  
Joseph Jr. ◽  
Gianpietro Zampogna ◽  
Fuat Demirelli ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (29_suppl) ◽  
pp. 112-112
Author(s):  
Shijian Feng ◽  
Qiongwen Zhang ◽  
Chunhua Yu ◽  
Huashan Shi ◽  
Wenxiu Yao ◽  
...  

112 Background: Pain is the most frequent and persistent symptom experienced by cancer patients. Thus, exploring how to achieve the best outcome of cancer pain management in China is clearly extremely important. Our study focuses on the Chinese physicians' current clinical practice, attitudes, toward and barriers to opioid use, and knowledge of cancer pain management. Methods: A face to face survey include 23 items was designed and conducted to the doctors working with cancer pain managements (oncologists, internists, hematologists, et al) responsible for the care of patients with cancer in 11 tertiary hospitals in China. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the total sample and for multiple choice questions and each item. Chi-square analysis was used to examine the difference between categorical variables. Results: 500 questionnaires were received out of 550. Most (62.2%) physicians assessed patients’ cancer pain every day, but 85.5% never or occasionally treated patients’ cancer pain together with psychologists. Most respondents appreciated that > 50% of patients with cancer experience severe chronic pain warranting analgesic therapy (73.5%), and that this therapy could control pain adequately in > 50% of patients (77.2%). More than half of physicians indicated that opioid dose titration in patients with poor pain control and assessment of the cause and severity of pain were urgently needed knowledge for cancer pain management. A majority (65.0%) of physicians responded incorrectly (60.0% agreed and 5.0% had no opinion) that they would increase the dosage of a potent opioid and administer it every 4 h as needed (q4h PRN). Inadequate assessment of pain and pain management (63.0%), patients' reluctance to take opioids (62.2%), and inadequate staff knowledge of pain management (61.4%) were the three most frequently barriers to physicians’ pain management. Conclusions: Our results revealed that physician education in cancer pain management in China does not currently provide the necessary levels of knowledge and skills. Therefore, effective strategies and professional education are still needed to encourage physicians’ concern with, experience in, and knowledge of cancer pain management in China.


2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 851-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Eidelman ◽  
Traci White ◽  
Robert A. Swarm

Optimized use of systemic analgesics fails to adequately control pain in some patients with cancer. Commonly used analgesics, including opioids, nonopioids (acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), and adjuvant analgesics (anticonvulsants and antidepressants), have limited analgesic efficacy, and their use is often associated with adverse effects. Without adequate pain control, patients with cancer not only experience the anguish of poorly controlled pain but also have greatly diminished quality of life and may even have reduced life expectancy. Interventional pain therapies are a diverse set of procedural techniques for controlling pain that may be useful when systemic analgesics fail to provide adequate control of cancer pain or when the adverse effects of systemic analgesics cannot be managed reasonably. Commonly used interventional therapies for cancer pain include neurolytic neural blockade, spinal administration of analgesics, and vertebroplasty. Compared with systemic analgesics, which generally have broad indications for control of pain, individual interventional therapies generally have specific, narrow indications. When appropriately selected and implemented, interventional pain therapies are important components of broad, multimodal cancer pain management that significantly increases the proportion of patients able to experience adequate pain control.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document