The overall aim of this innovative project is to improve patient and public education regarding cancer pain management. This objective will be achieved through 3 workshops conducted by nationally recognized experts in the area of pain management and patient education.
The specific aims to be accomplished include: 1) provide state-of-the-art information about cancer pain education to competitively selected staff from hospitals, ambulatory care, physicians offices, hospices, home care settings, and consumer groups; 2) provide a framework for integrating patient and public pain education in these settings; 3) provide a network of course participants to share pain education projects; 4) expand the application of current knowledge about cancer pain management to methods of patient education including individual instruction, group education, public education, and telephone education; and 5) evaluate the impact of the training program on the knowledge and experience of patients and family caregivers in the participants' settings and implementation of individual goals for improved pain management. This course builds upon the extensive research by investigators from the City of Hope National Medical Center (COH) and follows a pilot project of a 1-day course including 73 participants from California agencies. This innovative pain education program addresses one of three major barriers to improved cancer pain management, the area of patient education, as identified by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) Cancer Pain Clinical Practice Guidelines. Based on a theoretical framework of patient education, the program includes a strong evaluation component including instruments to assess knowledge and attitudes of professional colleagues and participants, participants goals, barriers to improving pain management, course evaluations and use of patient and family pain questionnaires. This course will impact 120 healthcare settings to improve pain management and quality of life in cancer patients and to establish model pain education programs for national dissemination.
