19. Healthcare Professionals-related
“Unbelievably, American doctors regularly refuse to
prescribe effective doses of narcotic pain killers to
dying patients on the grounds that the patients might
become addicted. The treatment of cancer pain,
clearly, is still not based solely on scientific fact but
draws on ignorance, fear, prejudice, and on an
invisible, unacknowledged moral code expressing half-
baked notions about evil of drugs and the duty to bear
affliction.”
- Dick Morris from The Culture of Pain
20. Healthcare Professionals-related
Inadequate knowledge/training in pain
management
Inadequate pain assessment
Concerns about regulation of controlled
substances
Fear of patient addiction
Ethnic/racial/gender/age biases
Negative feelings towards patients’ pain
29. System-
related
• Individualized
Treatment Plan
• Reform
regulations
(balanced)
• Monitoring
programs
Patient-
related
• Awareness,
Education, Bill of
Rights, patient
engagement
Healthcare
Professiona
ls-related
• Education, Clear
guidelines,
Multidisciplinary
approach,
quality
management
Notes de l'éditeur
Suffering is experienced by persons, not merely by bodies, and has its source in challenges that threaten the intactness of the person as a complex social and psychological entity. Suffering can include physical pain but is by no means limited to it.
Eric J Cassel The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine, N Engl J of Med 1982; 306:639-45.
Reluctance to report pain- fear that pain means disease is worse, concern about not being a good patient, concern about distracting physician from treatment of cancer. Cost is also a factor in preventing patients taking medication
Belief that pain is inevitable in cancer (due to religious/Spiritual believes)
Reluctance to report pain- fear that pain means disease is worse, concern about not being a good patient, concern about distracting physician from treatment of cancer. Cost is also a factor in preventing patients taking medication
Belief that pain is inevitable in cancer (due to religious/Spiritual believes)
Reluctance to report pain- fear that pain means disease is worse, concern about not being a good patient, concern about distracting physician from treatment of cancer. Cost is also a factor in preventing patients taking medication
Belief that pain is inevitable in cancer (due to religious/Spiritual believes)
Reluctance to report pain- fear that pain means disease is worse, concern about not being a good patient, concern about distracting physician from treatment of cancer. Cost is also a factor in preventing patients taking medication
Belief that pain is inevitable in cancer (due to religious/Spiritual believes)
Pain is inevitable .. Suffering is optional
Reluctance to report pain- fear that pain means disease is worse, concern about not being a good patient, concern about distracting physician from treatment of cancer. Cost is also a factor in preventing patients taking medication
Belief that pain is inevitable in cancer (due to religious/Spiritual believes)
Reluctance to report pain- fear that pain means disease is worse, concern about not being a good patient, concern about distracting physician from treatment of cancer. Cost is also a factor in preventing patients taking medication
Belief that pain is inevitable in cancer (due to religious/Spiritual believes) Salat
Low priority given to cancer pain treatment
Priority on curing cancer
Low priority given to cancer pain treatment
Priority on curing cancer
Underestimation of cancer pain management
Availability and accessibility to healthcare facilities
stereotype
Major criticism of the “ barriers literature” is the failure to analyze these barriers from an ethical perspective
Curative versus palliative models of medicine
Disparity between current state of medical knowledge and prevailing practice of pain management
Irrational beliefs about addiction, tolerance and adverse side effects