EFFECTS OF A NURSING PAIN PROGRAM ON PATIENT OUTCOMES

The effectiveness of a continuing pain education program, directed to surgical cancer nurses, was investigated in a pretest posttest control led intervention study. ANCOVA for repeated measures revealed that the programme resulted in a lower pain intensity of surgical colon and br east cancer patients (p = 0.02). However, no effects were found on pai n duration, sleepless hours as a result of pain, state anxiety, mood d isturbances, and duration of hospitalization. It is assumed that becau se the pain CE programme had a moderate impact on pain intensity, this had no consequences for the other outcome variables mentioned. (C) 19 97 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.