Patients' and nurses' assessment of cancer pain

The purpose of this study was to examine hospitalised cancer patients' and nurses' assessment of patients' cancer pain and to compare them. The data w ere collected from 51 patient-nurse pairs in two hospitals from oncological and medical clinics. Each nurse and patient took part in the study no more than once. The data were collected with a structured interview and the que stionnaire. The intensity of pain was measured with a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Finnish version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (FPQ). The results showed that the differences between patients' and nurses' assessmen ts were statistically significant for most intensive pain and for acceptabl e pain. In both cases nurses' assessments of the intensity of gain were low er than patients' assessments. The nurses identified 40 words in the verbal FPQ that the patients used in describing their experiences of pain. The wo rds used most often by patients were agonizing, tender, wave-like and radia nt. The word that the nurses used most often was that of intense. Nurses' k nowledge about pain medication in general and morphine in particular was cl early associated with the differences observed in estimates of the intensit y of pain. Nurses with poor knowledge underestimated the patients' most int ensive experiences of pain. The difference was statistically significant.