Kanser Hastalarının Ağrı Kontrolünde Yetersizlikler ve Yaklaşım Farklılıkları: Algoloji Bilim Dalının Etkinliğinin Değerlendirilmesi

Objective: Today, it is possible to control 90-95% of pain. However, cancer pain still cannot be treated at desired levels. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the experiences of cancer patients, to review the approaches of the doctors and nurses in pain treatment, to identify the barriers, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the algology department. Methods: Between 01.04.2011-31.07.2011, 202 cancer patients from various services and 85 nurses, 97 doctors responsible for these patients were evaluated through questionnaires. Statistical analyzes were performed in SPSS 15.0 program. Descriptive statistics were used. Results: Although 95% of the patients received analgesic treatment, 61.9% had pain and 55.8% had a VAS (Visual Analog Scale) score of 5 and above. After Algology follow up, this decreased to 25%, and it was determined that 88.6% of the patients were partially or completely relieved. Although half of the nurses didn’t receive adequate education at the university, 78.8% of them attended the training after graduation. Despite this, it was observed that 58% of the nurses were partially knowledgeable about analgesic drugs. Although 65 percent of physicians encounter cancer patients with pain at least once a week, nearly half of them feel inadequate or very inadequate in pain management. The main barriers to pain management are inadequate assessment of pain, fear of dependence on opioids, fear of side effects of opioids, lack of prioritization of pain management, lack of information, and inadequate nurses to administer opioids. Conclusion: This study points to the lack of knowledge and excessive anxiety of doctors and nurses about cancer pain and its treatment. Although opioid abuse or dependence in chronic pain, including cancer, is very rare, “opiophobia” is still one of the most important problems in cancer pain management. The best way to effectively treat pain and reduce barriers is to adopt a multidisciplinary approach and increase the effectiveness of algology, which plays a central role in this regard.