Myths About Morphine May Limit Its Use
On Dec. 11, Science Daily reported on a study that appeared in the journal, Annals of Oncology. The study examined the beliefs cancer patients hold about using opioids for pain relief. The study's author conducted 18 in-depth interviews with patients suffering from metastatic cancer in the United Kingdom. The article states that, "Cancer patients are suffering unnecessarily because they wrongly believe that morphine and other opioids are only used as 'comfort for the dying' and as a 'last resort' rather than seeing them as legitimate pain killers that can improve their quality of life." The study abstract may be viewed here.
Hospice Foundation of America has published a collection of common myths about pain management. Read them here.
Hospice Foundation of America has published a collection of common myths about pain management. Read them here.
Labels: pain management
Posted by: HFA permalink
1 Comments:
I read an abstract of this study and had an AHA moment. The abstract stated, under a section called "role of the professional," that interviews with patients suggested that the patients detected professional ambivalence towards morphine and this heightened their fears. I know that doctors are monitored as to how much narcotic they are prescribing to patients. In my home area, doctors prescribe hydrocodone freely but rarely give prescriptions for oxycodone or morphine. If patients who have been seeing a doctor for a long time perceive ambivalence about prescribing morphine - which the patients perceive as the doctor not trusting morphine or not thinking it was the best way to treat their pain - they may misjudge the doctor's hesitancy as one thing when it's really a concern on the part of the doctor that they might be somehow reprimanded by overseeing agencies for prescribing too many narcotics. I have so many patients admitted to hospice who seem to be terrified of taking morphine. Much time is spent on re-educating. Maybe part of the problem is that they are picking up signals from their doctors, misreading the signals. Just a thought. Paula Schneider, RN, CHPN
Hospice RN of 7 years, RN of 31 years.
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