The role of spirituality in pain experiences among adults with cancer: an explanatory sequential mixed methods study.

PURPOSE: Foundational research demonstrates that spirituality may affect the way people with cancer experience pain. One potential route is through alterations in thoughts and beliefs, such as pain-related catastrophizing. The purpose of this study is to understand whether spirituality impacts pain experiences through pain-related catastrophizing. METHODS: This explanatory sequential mixed methods study was informed by an adapted Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms. Data were collected via online surveys (N = 79) and follow-up qualitative interviews (N = 25). Phase 1 employed Empirical Bayesian analysis. Phase 2 used deductive content analysis. Phase 3 involved creating a mixed methods joint display to integrate findings and draw meta inferences. RESULTS: Results indicate that total spiritual well-being was directly negatively associated with pain-related catastrophizing, and indirectly negatively associated with the outcomes of pain interference, pain severity, and pain-related distress. Qualitative categories highlight the supportive role of spirituality when facing pain, while also shedding light on the limitations of spirituality in the context of some pain (i.e., severe, neuropathic, and/or chronic). Mixed methods findings reveal the importance of spirituality for some people as they face cancer and cancer-related pain, as well as the need for integrating spirituality as part of a larger pain management plan. CONCLUSIONS: This research advances supportive cancer care by exploring the complex role of spirituality in pain experiences. Findings will inform further exploration into the role of spirituality in supporting holistic symptom management in the context of cancer, as well as developing and testing interventions to enhance spirituality and address symptom-related suffering.

Measuring palliative care integration in Malawi through service provision, access, and training indicators: the Waterloo Coalition Initiative.

BACKGROUND: Fewer than 1 in 20 people on the African continent in need of palliative care receive it. Malawi is a low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa that has yet to achieve advanced palliative care integration accompanied by unrestricted access to pain and symptom relieving palliative medicines. This paper studied the impact of Malawi's Waterloo Coalition Initiative (WCI) - a local project promoting palliative care integration through service development, staff training, and increased service access. METHODS: Interdisciplinary health professionals at 13 hospitals in southern Malawi were provided robust palliative care training over a 10-month period. We used a cross-sectional evaluation to measure palliative care integration based on 11 consensus-based indicators over a one-year period. RESULTS: 92% of hospitals made significant progress in all 11 indicators. Specifically, there was a 69% increase in the number of dedicated palliative care rooms/clinics, a total of 253 staff trained across all hospitals (a 220% increase in the region), substantive increases in the number of patients receiving or assessed for palliative care, and the number of hospitals that maintained access to morphine or other opioid analgesics while increasing the proportion of referrals to hospice or other palliative care programs. CONCLUSION: Palliative care is a component of universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goal 3. The WCI has made tremendous strides in establishing and integrating palliative care services in Malawi with notable progress across 11 project indicators, demonstrating that increased palliative care access is possible in severely resource-constrained settings through sustained models of partnership at the local level.

Racial and ethnic diversity in academic nursing leadership: A cross-sectional analysis.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: To characterize the representation of racial and ethnic minoritized faculty in leadership positions at the top 50 National Institutes of Health-ranked academic nursing institutions. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study to characterize the racial/ethnic composition of academic leaders, including those in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) positions from September 2020 to December 2020. DISCUSSION: Among the 409 leaders, the sample was predominantly composed of females (86.6%), White leaders (80.9%), affiliated with public institutions (75.1%), and in the southern region (42.1%). Exactly 13.6% were from minoritized groups. Minoritized leaders were less likely to hold dean and higher executive positions than their nonminoritized counterparts (p < .002). DEI leadership positions were mostly concentrated in lower executive positions (e.g., director) and primarily consisted of minoritized leaders (>60%). CONCLUSION: Underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minoritized individuals in academic nursing leadership persists, necessitating structural interventions within nursing academia to promote inclusivity. Achieving this goal requires a concerted investment in diversifying academic nursing leadership and ensuring positions that minoritized leaders are in, hold weight.

The Impact of Primary Care Practice Structural Capabilities on Nurse Practitioner Burnout, Job Satisfaction, and Intent to Leave.

BACKGROUND: Lack of structure for care delivery (ie, structural capabilities) has been linked to lower quality of care and negative patient outcomes. However, little research examines the relationship between practice structural capabilities and nurse practitioner (NP) job outcomes. OBJECTIVES: We investigated the association between structural capabilities and primary care NP job outcomes (ie, burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to leave). RESEARCH DESIGN: Secondary analysis of 2018-2019 cross-sectional data. SUBJECTS: A total of 1110 NPs across 1002 primary care practices in 6 states. MEASURES: We estimated linear probability models to assess the association between structural capabilities and NP job outcomes, controlling for NP work environment, demographics, and practice features. RESULTS: The average structural capabilities score (measured on a scale of 0-1) across practices was 0.6 (higher score indicates more structural capabilities). After controlling for potential confounders, we found that a 10-percentage point increase in the structural capabilities score was associated with a 3-percentage point decrease in burnout ( P <0.001), a 2-percentage point decrease in job dissatisfaction ( P <0.001), and a 3-percentage point decrease in intent to leave ( P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Primary care NPs report lower burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to leave when working in practices with greater structural capabilities for care delivery. These findings suggest that efforts to improve structural capabilities not only facilitate effective care delivery and benefit patients but they also support NPs and strengthen their workforce participation. Practice leaders should further invest in structural capabilities to improve primary care provider job outcomes.

Communicating with LGBTQ+ persons at end of life: A case-based analysis of interdisciplinary palliative clinician perspectives.

OBJECTIVE: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) persons with serious illness and their families often experience end-of-life (EOL) care disparities, such as homophobia and transphobia, disrespect and mistreatment, and exclusion of significant others or life partners. The aim of the study was to explore interdisciplinary clinicians' communication knowledge and priorities using a case of a gay man at EOL and his same-sex, cisgender spouse. METHODS: Interdisciplinary clinicians (n = 150) who participated in a national 3-day communication training program, rooted in Adult Learning Theory and supported by the National Cancer Institute, responded to open-ended questions about a composite case study emphasizing diversity challenges relevant to LGBTQ + communities in the EOL context. A thematic analysis of responses using an iterative, inductive approach was conducted until saturation was reached. RESULTS: Participants from nursing (48%), social work (35%) and chaplaincy (17%) responded to the survey. Five themes emerged: 1) provision of patient-centered care; 2) legal and ethical factors inform care and decision making; 3) considerations of same-sex spouse or couple context; 4) dynamics and role of family of origin; and 5) elements of inclusive clinical care. CONCLUSIONS: LGBTQ + inclusive communication training is essential for all palliative clinicians to deliver culturally safe care. Our findings have implications for identifying unconscious bias, addressing discriminatory care, filling clinician knowledge gaps, and informing educational interventions to support LGBTQ + inclusion. Future research must focus on micro- and macro-level communication issues that shape the quality of palliative and EOL care for patients and chosen family members.

Understanding End of Life Nursing Practices and End of Life Across Cultures.

Nurses are the largest group of health and social care professionals globally and they are central to the provision of palliative care.

Integrating evidence-based communication principles into routine cancer care.

PURPOSE: The global incidence of cancer and available cancer-directed therapy options is increasing rapidly, presenting patients and clinicians with more complex treatment decisions than ever before. Despite the dissemination of evidence-based communication training tools and programs, clinicians cite barriers to employing effective communication in cancer care (e.g., discomfort of sharing serious news, concern about resource constraints to meet stated needs). We present two composite cases with significant communication challenges to guide clinicians through an application of evidence-based approaches to achieve quality communication. METHODS: Composite cases, communication skills blueprint, and visual conceptualization. RESULTS: High-stakes circumstances in each case are described, including end-of-life planning, advanced pediatric illness, strong emotions, and health inequities. Three overarching communication approaches are discussed: (1) content selection and delivery; (2) rapport development; and (3) empathic connection. The key takeaways following each case provide succinct summaries of challenges encountered and approaches used. A communication blueprint from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Communication Skills Training Program and Research Laboratory has been adapted and is comprised of strategies, skills, process tasks, and sample talking points. A visually concise tool - the Communication Blueprint Traffic Circle - illustrates these concepts and demonstrates the iterative, holistic, and agile considerations inherent to effective communication. CONCLUSION: Evidence-based communication is foundational to person-centeredness, associated with improved clinician and patient/caregiver outcomes, and can be integrated throughout routine oncology care. When used by clinicians, evidence-based communication can improve patient and caregiver experiences and assist in ensuring goal-concordant cancer care delivery.

Palliative and end-of-life care needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ individuals with serious illness: A systematic mixed-methods review.

BACKGROUND: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) individuals experience discrimination throughout the care continuum, including during serious illness and at end of life. High-quality palliative care requires that health professionals deliver individualized services that reflect the needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ persons. AIM: To identify and appraise existing evidence related to the needs, experiences, and preferences for palliative and end of life care among LGBTQ+ individuals with serious illness. DESIGN: Data-based convergent synthesis design reported per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Scopus from January 1, 2010 to November 6, 2020. RESULTS: Of 4875 results captured, 69 articles underwent full-text review and 13 were retained for analysis. Most studies were from North America with trans individuals represented in 10 of 13 studies. Needs (n = 6) included increased social support, institutional safety, economic and legal supports, and advocacy to mitigate health barriers.Experiences (n = 12) were driven by fear and worry associated with discrimination/stigma,providers' hetero-/cisnormative assumptions, homophobia and transphobia, social isolation, and an undignified death. Preferences (n = 6) pertained to inclusion of chosen families in decision-making, disclosure of LGBTQ+ identity based on safety of the clinical environment, and a desire to maintain autonomy. CONCLUSIONS: The robustness of the science has improved regarding the needs, experiences, and preferences of trans individuals. Actionable, inclusive policies coupled with sustained and integrated cultural sensitivity training for health workers are mandatory. Interventional research is critical to enhance tailored palliative care for LGBTQ+ people and their chosen families.

American Academy of Nursing consensus recommendations to advance system level change for nurse well-being.

The COVID-19 pandemic has required close examination of workforce-related stressors that over decades have contributed to widespread burnout, negative health outcomes, including mental health outcomes, and the loss of the well-educated professionals who are the future of the nursing profession. In the United States and globally, evidence points to factors known to diminish well-being, including inequities, issues of minority status, persistent discrimination, and demanding work environments. The American Academy of Nursing (AAN), dedicated to organizational excellence, nursing leadership and evidence-based policy, develops statements reflecting its mission and those of its nursing affiliates and corporate member, The American Nurses Association. Within nursing, despite the efforts of its members toward advancement, professional fulfillment is often constrained by the systems in which nurses practice and workplace factors over which they have little control. Action by key organizations to initiate changes at systems levels in workplace safety, to increase professional mobility, and propel policies that increase access to health care resources could improve nurse well-being. This paper proposes recommendations from the AAN Expert Panels on Building Health Care System Excellence, Psychiatric Mental Health and Substance Use, and Global Health Expert Panels for the American Academy of Nursing to leverage related policy in the arenas of government and professional/healthcare organizations. Transforming health care work environments and advancing nurse well-being and equity can be accomplished through key, innovative policy changes. These will be achieved through collaboration among associations, organizations, nonprofit groups, and with the public and the media.

Race-conscious serious illness communication: An interpersonal tool to dismantle racism in practice and research.

BACKGROUND: Racism significantly contributes to inequitable care quality and outcomes for people of color with serious illness, their families, and their communities. Clinicians use serious illness communication (SIC) to foster trust, elicit patients' needs and values, and deliver goal-concordant services. Current SIC tools do not actively guide users to incorporate patients' experiences with racism into care. OBJECTIVES: 1) To explicitly address racism during SIC in the context of the patient's lived experience and 2) to provide race-conscious SIC recommendations for clinicians and researchers. METHODS: Applying the conceptual elements of Public Health Critical Race Praxis to SIC practice and research through reflection on inclusive SIC approaches and a composite case. RESULTS: Patients' historical and ongoing narratives of racism must be intentionally welcomed in physically and psychologically safe environments by leveraging empathic communication opportunities, forging antiracist palliative care practices, removing interpersonal barriers to promote transparent patient-clinician relationships, and strengthening organizational commitments to strategically dismantle racism. Race-conscious SIC communication strategies, skills, and examples of talking points are provided. DISCUSSION: Race-conscious SIC practices may assist to acknowledge racial dynamics within the patient-clinician encounter. Furthermore, race-conscious SIC may help to mitigate implicit and explicit bias in clinical practices and the exclusionary research cultures that guide them.

The Third Annual US Celebration of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day: A virtual coming together to unify the global palliative care community.

OBJECTIVES: On 3-4 October 2022, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Supportive Care Service and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences hosted the Third Annual United States (US) Celebration of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD). The purpose of this article is to reflect on the event within the broader context of the international WHPCD theme: "healing hearts and communities." We describe lessons learned in anticipation of the fourth annual conference to be held on 3-4 October 2023. METHODS: Description of the third annual event, conference planning team reflection, and attendee evaluation responses. RESULTS: The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance launched WHPCD in 2005 as an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care globally. Since 2020, the conference has attracted an increasing number of attendees from around the world. Two primary aims continue to guide the event: community building and wisdom sharing. Fifty-two interprofessional palliative care experts, advocates, patients, and caregivers provided 13 unique interactive sessions. Four hundred and fifty-eight multidisciplinary registrants from at least 17 countries joined the program. Free registration for colleagues in low- and middle-income countries, students and trainees, and individuals experiencing financial hardship remains a cornerstone of inclusion and equitable access to the event. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The US WHPCD celebration provides a virtual platform that offers opportunities for scientific dissemination and collective reflection on hospice and palliative care delivery amid significant local and global changes in clinical practice, research, policy and advocacy, and population health. We remain committed to ensuring an internationally relevant, culturally diverse, and multidisciplinary agenda that will continue to draw increased participation worldwide during future annual events.

Palliative Justice Post-COP27.

The climate crisis is a planetary existential threat, disproportionately affecting the poorest populations worldwide. People in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience the most detrimental consequences of climate injustice, endangering their livelihoods, safety, overall wellbeing, and survival. Although the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) put forth several internationally salient recommendations, the outcomes fall short to efficiently tackle the suffering that exists at the intersection of social and climate injustice. Individuals with serious illness living in LMICs have the highest burden of health-related suffering globally. In fact, more than 61 million people experience serious health-related suffering (SHS) each year that is amenable to palliative care. Despite this well-documented burden of SHS, an estimated 88-90% of palliative care need is unmet, the majority in LMICs. To equitably address suffering at individual, population, and planetary levels in LMICs, a palliative justice approach is crucial. The interplay of human and planetary suffering requires that current planetary health recommendations be expanded to incorporate a whole-person and whole-people perspective that recognizes the need for environmentally conscious and community-based research and policy initiatives. Conversely, palliative care efforts should incorporate planetary health considerations to ensure sustainability in capacity building and service provision. In sum, the optimal health of the planet will remain elusive until we can holistically recognize the value of relieving all suffering due to life-limiting conditions, as well as the value in preserving the natural resources of countries in which all people are born, live, age, suffer, die, and grieve.

International consensus-based policy recommendations to advance universal palliative care access from the American Academy of Nursing Expert Panels.

The purpose of this consensus paper was to convene leaders and scholars from eight Expert Panels of the American Academy of Nursing and provide recommendations to advance nursing's roles and responsibility to ensure universal access to palliative care. On behalf of the Academy, these evidence-based recommendations will guide nurses, policy makers, government representatives, professional associations, and interdisciplinary and community partners to integrate palliative nursing services across health and social care settings. Through improved palliative nursing education, nurse-led research, nurse engagement in policy making, enhanced intersectoral partnerships with nursing, and an increased profile and visibility of palliative care nurses worldwide, nurses can assume leading roles in delivering high-quality palliative care globally, particularly for minoritized, marginalized, and other at-risk populations. Part II herein provides a summary of international responses and policy options that have sought to enhance universal palliative care and palliative nursing access to date. Additionally, we provide ten policy, education, research, and clinical practice recommendations based on the rationale and background information found in Part I. The consensus paper's 43 authors represent eight countries (Australia, Canada, England, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, South Africa, United States of America) and extensive international health experience, thus providing a global context for the subject matter.

The 2nd Annual US Celebration of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day: A virtual coming together to support equity in palliative care access.

OBJECTIVE: On October 5-6, 2021, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Supportive Care Service and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences hosted the 2nd Annual United States (US) Celebration of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD). The purpose of this article is to describe the event within the broader context of the international WHPCD theme: "Leave No One Behind - Equity in Access to Palliative Care." We reflect on lessons learned in anticipation of the 3rd annual conference to be held October 3-4, 2022. METHODS: Description of the 2nd annual event, conference planning team reflection, and attendee evaluation responses. RESULTS: The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance launched WHPCD in 2005 as an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. The 2021 US-based innovative virtual conference featured 37 interprofessional hospice and palliative care specialists and patient and family caregiver speakers across 11 diverse sessions with a focus on health equity and COVID-19 considerations. Two primary aims continue to guide the event: community building and wisdom sharing at the intersection of art and science. 278 registrants from at least 14 countries and 21 different states across the US joined the program, which served as a global debriefing for hospice and palliative care workers from diverse settings, contexts, and disciplines. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The US WHPCD Celebration creates a virtual coming together for collective reflection on hospice and palliative care delivery amid vast changes in clinical practice, research, and policy, both locally and globally. In addition, our goal to ensure an internationally relevant, culturally inclusive, and multidisciplinary agenda will continue to draw increased participation worldwide during future annual events.

Nurses and Midwives as Global Partners to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the Anthropocene.

PURPOSE: To highlight ongoing and emergent roles of nurses and midwives in advancing the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 at the intersection of social and economic inequity, the climate crisis, interprofessional partnership building, and the rising status and visibility of the professions worldwide. DESIGN: Discussion paper. METHODS: Literature review. FINDINGS: Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals will require all nurses and midwives to leverage their roles and responsibility as advocates, leaders, clinicians, scholars, and full partners with multidisciplinary actors and sectors across health systems. CONCLUSIONS: Making measurable progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals is critical to human survival, as well as the survival of the planet. Nurses and midwives play an integral part of this agenda at local and global levels. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Nurses and midwives can integrate the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals into their everyday clinical work in various contexts and settings. With increased attention to social justice, environmental health, and partnership building, they can achieve exemplary clinical outcomes directly while contributing to the United Nations 2030 Agenda on a global scale and raising the profile of their professions.

A Virtual Coaching Workshop for a Nurse-Led Community-Based Palliative Care Team in Liberia, West Africa, to Promote Staff Well-Being During COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented system and clinician strain worldwide, disproportionately impacting resource poor settings. This project describes the use of a virtual nurse coaching session to improve the well-being of a nurse-led community-based palliative care team in Liberia, West Africa. Staff response was overwhelmingly positive. Discussion is underway to expand this educational coaching intervention to support additional teams confronting COVID-19 in both East and West Africa. Virtual nurse coaching is an innovative way to enhance staff well-being, improve global health partnerships and knowledge exchange, and foster communication across all levels of education and clinical practice.

American Academy of Nursing Expert Panel consensus statement on nursing's roles in ensuring universal palliative care access.

The purpose of this consensus paper was to convene leaders and scholars from eight Expert Panels of the American Academy of Nursing and provide recommendations to advance nursing's roles and responsibility to ensure universal access to palliative care. Part I of this consensus paper herein provides the rationale and background to support the policy, education, research, and clinical practice recommendations put forward in Part II. On behalf of the Academy, the evidence-based recommendations will guide nurses, policy makers, government representatives, professional associations, and interdisciplinary and community partners to integrate palliative nursing services across health and social care settings. The consensus paper's 43 authors represent eight countries (Australia, Canada, England, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, South Africa, United States of America) and extensive international health experience, thus providing a global context for the subject matter. The authors recommend greater investments in palliative nursing education and nurse-led research, nurse engagement in policy making, enhanced intersectoral partnerships with nursing, and an increased profile and visibility of palliative nurses worldwide. By enacting these recommendations, nurses working in all settings can assume leading roles in delivering high-quality palliative care globally, particularly for minoritized, marginalized, and other at-risk populations.

The inaugural United States World Hospice and Palliative Care Day Celebration: A virtual coming together.

OBJECTIVE: On October 10, 2020, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Supportive Care Service hosted their first-ever United States (US) World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD) Celebration. The purpose of this article is to describe the US inaugural event in alignment with the broader goals of WHPCD and provide lessons learned in anticipation of the second annual conference to be held on October 5-6, 2021. METHODS: Description of the inaugural event in the context of COVID-19 and WHPCD, co-planning conference team reflection, and attendee survey responses. RESULTS: The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance initially launched WHPCD in 2005 as an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. The US-based innovative virtual conference featured 23 interprofessional hospice and palliative care specialists and patient and family caregiver speakers across nine diverse sessions addressing priorities at the intersection of COVID-19, social injustice, and the global burden of serious health-related suffering. Two primary aims guided the event: community building and wisdom sharing. Nearly 270 registrants from at least 16 countries and one dozen states across the US joined the free program focused on both personal and professional development. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Unlike many other academic conferences and professional gatherings that were relegated to online forums due to pandemic-related restrictions, the US WHPCD Celebration was intentionally established to create a virtual coming together for collective reflection on the barriers and facilitators of palliative care delivery amid vast societal change. The goal to ensure a globally relevant and culturally inclusive agenda will continue to draw increased participation at an international level during future annual events. Finally, the transparent and respectful sharing of palliative care team experiences in the year preceding the conference established a safe environment for both individual expression and scholarly discussion.

Both Race and Insurance Type Independently Predict the Selection of Oral Opioids Prescribed to Cancer Outpatients.

BACKGROUND: Previous research suggests that racial disparities in patients' reported analgesic adverse effects are partially mediated by the type of opioid prescribed to African Americans despite the presence of certain comorbidities, such as renal disease. AIMS: We aimed to identify independent predictors of the type of opioid prescribed to cancer outpatients and determine if race and chronic kidney disease independently predict prescription type, adjusting for relevant sociodemographic and clinical confounders. DESIGN: We conducted a secondary analysis of a 3-month observational study. SETTING: Outpatient oncology clinics of an academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS/SUBJECTS: Patients were older than 18 years of age, self-identified as African American or White, and had an analgesic prescription for cancer pain. METHODS: Cancer patients (N = 241) were recruited from outpatient oncology clinics within a large mid-Atlantic healthcare system. RESULTS: Consistent with published literature, most patients (75.5%) were prescribed either morphine or oxycodone preparations as oral opioid therapy for cancer pain. When compared with Whites, African Americans were significantly more likely to be prescribed morphine (33% vs 14%) and less likely to be prescribed oxycodone (38% vs 64%) (p < .001). The estimated odds for African Americans to receive morphine were 2.573 times that for Whites (95% confidence interval 1.077-6.134) after controlling for insurance type, income, and pain levels. In addition, the presence of private health insurance was negatively associated with the prescription of morphine and positively associated with prescription of oxycodone in separate multivariable models. The presence of chronic kidney disease did not predict type of analgesic prescribed. CONCLUSIONS: Both race and insurance type independently predict type of opioid selection for cancer outpatients. Larger clinical studies are needed to fully understand the sources and clinical consequences of racial differences in opioid selection for cancer pain.