Providing optimal pain control for cancer patients: The impact of the hospital specialist palliative care team

Background: Pain is reported to occur in the majority of patients with advanced cancer varying with tumour type, spread of disease and disease treatments. Pain control is one of the main reasons for referral to a hospital specialist palliative care team. Yet despite this, there is limited research into the effectiveness of the hospital specialist palliative care team on pain control in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the hospital palliative care team on cancer patient’s reported level of pain. Method: A non equivalent control group design using a quota sample investigated 100 cancer patients who had been admitted to a UK University Hospital for symptom control. 50 patients received specialist hospital palliative care team intervention, compared with 50 patients receiving traditional care. Outcome was assessed using the self reported Palliative Care Assessment (PACA) tool on three occasions (within 24 hours of admission/diagnosis or referral to the palliative care team, day 3 and day 7) that measured patients reported level of pain. Results and Discussion: The results indicated that all cancer patients admitted to hospital had a significant improvement in their pain control. There was no difference between the groups on the initial assessment of pain, which allows comparisons to be made between the groups. The patients who had the additional input of the palliative care team demonstrated a statistically significant greater improvement than the control group EAPC Abstracts 173(PB/0.001). Potential explanations are made for the results including the enhanced knowledge and skills of the hospital specialist palliative care team.