Virginia LeBaron, APRN, PhD, FAAN, post-doctoral research fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a study that looked at how cancer outpatients and health care providers talk about pain.

LeBaron says cancer pain continues to be a major problem for cancer patients and their family members. For the study, LeBaron and colleagues listened to audio recordings of outpatient visits to examine how patients and their health care providers discussed pain management.

LeBaron says the study showed that conversations about pain are complex. Patients who felt that their pain needs were not adequately addressed kept coming back to the issue of pain during the visit, LeBaron says.

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Virginia LeBaron on How Cancer Outpatients and Health Care Providers Discuss Pain

Virginia LeBaron, APRN, PhD, FAAN, post-doctoral research fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses some takeaway points from a study that looked at how cancer outpatients and health care providers talk about pain.

LeBaron says it is important that oncology nurses keep pain on their radar screen when talking to any cancer patient. The study showed that cancer patients in all stages are talking about pain.

The study also showed that most providers ask closed-ended questions about pain when talking with their patient, LeBaron says. Nurses should ask open-ended questions to provide their patients a better opportunity to talk about their pain experience.

Virginia LeBaron, APRN, PhD, FAAN

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Virginia LeBaron on How Cancer Outpatients and Health Care Providers Discuss Pain

Virginia LeBaron on Discussing Pain with Cancer Patients