ABSTRACT Introduction: Cancer pain remains a major challenge, affecting nearly half of patients—even during treatment. Cancer pain is often under-assessed in the ICU due to communication barriers, limited nurse training, and lack of standardized protocols. Aim: This project aimed to optimize pain assessment by nurses in ICU patients with cancer through the implementation of best practices. Methods: This project followed the seven-phase JBI Evidence Implementation Framework, which is grounded in an audit and feedback strategy. Participants included 26 nurses and 20 ICU patients with cancer. A baseline and follow-up audit were used to measure nurses’ accuracy in assessing the patients’ pain. Results: The baseline audit revealed the following compliance metrics: 20.6% for routine assessment of nursing documentation, 52.6% for correct use of the assessment tool, 68% for appropriate pain management when the Visual Analog Scale ≧ 3 points or the Behavioral Pain Scale ≧ 5 points, and 0% for the detection of cancer pain. In the follow-up audit, these four metrics increased significantly to 100%, 100%, 91.2%, and 70%, respectively. Conclusions: Leaders can provide education and develop innovative materials to improve nurses’ assessment of pain in ICU patients with cancer. Protocols, validated pain tools, on-site checklists, and evidence-based education are effective strategies to enhance nurses’ accuracy in assessing cancer pain. Spanish abstract: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A418
Hsieh et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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