Barriers to self-management of chronic pain in primary care: a qualitative focus group study.

BACKGROUND: Supported self-management is a recommended intervention for chronic pain. Effective self-management should enable an individual to reduce the impact of pain on their everyday life. Clinical guidelines suggest primary care services have a role to play in supporting self-management of chronic pain. AIM: To examine the opinions of primary care healthcare professionals (HCPs) and people with chronic pain and their carers, in order to identify possible barriers to the facilitation and adoption of self-management. DESIGN AND SETTING: A qualitative study using focus groups in locations throughout Scotland. METHOD: Eighteen focus groups were held with patients and HCPs. Fifty-four patients, nine carers, and 38 HCPs attended the groups. RESULTS: Four categories of barriers were found. 1) Patient-HCP consultation: some patients felt a discussion about self-management came too late or not at all. Communication and building positive relations were sometimes challenging. 2) Patient experience: the emotional impact of pain was difficult and patients often felt unsupported by HCPs. 3) Limited treatment options: some participants felt there was a tendency for overmedicalisation. 4) Organisational constraints: short appointment times, long waiting lists, and a compartmentalised NHS created challenges. CONCLUSION: This study illustrates some of the barriers faced by HCPs and patients in the facilitation and adoption of self-management of chronic pain. If self-management is to be an important approach to chronic pain, primary care services need to be designed to address the barriers identified.

Understanding factors that facilitate the inclusion of pain education in undergraduate curricula: Perspectives from a UK survey.

BACKGROUND: Studies in Europe, North America and Australasia suggest that one in five adults suffer from pain. There is increasing recognition that pain, particularly chronic pain, represents a global health burden. Many studies, including two national surveys exploring the content of undergraduate curricula for pain education, identify that documented pain education in curricula was limited and fragmentary. METHODS: The study design used a questionnaire which included an open text comment box for respondents to add 'further comments' as part of larger study previously published. The sample consisted of 19 UK universities that offered 108 undergraduate programmes in the following: dentistry, medicine, midwifery, nursing (adult, child, learning disabilities and mental health branches), occupational therapy (OT), pharmacy, physiotherapy and veterinary science. An inductive content analysis was performed, and the data were managed using NVivo 10 software for data management. RESULTS: A total of 57 participants across seven disciplines (dentistry, medicine, midwifery, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy and OT) completed the open text comment box (none were received from veterinary science). Analysis revealed two major themes of successes and challenges. Successes included expansion (extending coverage and/or increased student access), multidimensional curriculum content and diversity of teaching methods. Challenges included difficulties in identifying where pain is taught in the curriculum, biomedical versus biopsychosocial definitions of pain, perceived importance, time, resources and staff knowledge, and finally a diffusion of responsibility for pain education. CONCLUSION: This study identifies new insights of the factors attributed to successful implementation of pain education in undergraduate education. Many of the challenges previously reported were also identified. This is one of the first studies to identify a broad range of approaches, for pain education, that could be deemed as 'successful' across a range of health disciplines.

The assessment and management of pain in patients with dementia in hospital settings: a multi-case exploratory study from a decision making perspective.

BACKGROUND: Pain is often poorly managed in people who have a dementia. Little is known about how this patient population is managed in hospital, with research to date focused mainly on care homes. This study aimed to investigate how pain is recognised, assessed and managed in patients with dementia in a range of acute hospital wards, to inform the development of a decision support tool to improve pain management for this group. METHODS: A qualitative, multi-site exploratory case study. Data were collected in four hospitals in England and Scotland. Methods included non-participant observations, audits of patient records, semi-structured interviews with staff and carers, and analysis of hospital ward documents. Thematic analysis was performed through the lens of decision making theory. RESULTS: Staff generally relied on patients' self-report of pain. For patients with dementia, however, communication difficulties experienced because of their condition, the organisational context, and time frames of staff interactions, hindered patients' ability to provide staff with information about their pain experience. This potentially undermined the trials of medications used to provide pain relief to each patient and assessments of their responses to these treatments. Furthermore, given the multidisciplinary environment, a patient's communication about their pain involved several members of staff, each having to make sense of the patient's pain as in an 'overall picture'. Information about patients' pain, elicited in different ways, at different times and by different health care staff, was fragmented in paper-based documentation. Re-assembling the pieces to form a 'patient specific picture of the pain' required collective staff memory, 'mental computation' and time. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for an efficient method of eliciting and centralizing all pain-related information for patients with dementia, which is distributed in time and between personnel. Such a method should give an overall picture of a patient's pain which is rapidly accessible to all involved in their care. This would provide a much-needed basis for making decisions to support the effective management of the pain of older people with dementia in hospital.

Using sense-making theory to aid understanding of the recognition, assessment and management of pain in patients with dementia in acute hospital settings.

BACKGROUND: The recognition, assessment and management of pain in hospital settings is suboptimal, and is a particular challenge in patients with dementia. The existing process guiding pain assessment and management in clinical settings is based on the assumption that nurses follow a sequential linear approach to decision making. In this paper we re-evaluate this theoretical assumption drawing on findings from a study of pain recognition, assessment and management in patients with dementia. AIM: To provide a revised conceptual model of pain recognition, assessment and management based on sense-making theories of decision making. METHODS: The research we refer to is an exploratory ethnographic study using nested case sites. Patients with dementia (n=31) were the unit of data collection, nested in 11 wards (vascular, continuing care, stroke rehabilitation, orthopaedic, acute medicine, care of the elderly, elective and emergency surgery), located in four NHS hospital organizations in the UK. Data consisted of observations of patients at bedside (170h in total); observations of the context of care; audits of patient hospital records; documentary analysis of artefacts; semi-structured interviews (n=56) and informal open conversations with staff and carers (family members). FINDINGS: Existing conceptualizations of pain recognition, assessment and management do not fully explain how the decision process occurs in clinical practice. Our research indicates that pain recognition, assessment and management is not an individual cognitive activity; rather it is carried out by groups of individuals over time and within a specific organizational culture or climate, which influences both health care professional and patient behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: We propose a revised theoretical model of decision making related to pain assessment and management for patients with dementia based on theories of sense-making, which is reflective of the reality of clinical decision making in acute hospital wards. The revised model recognizes the salience of individual cognition as well as acknowledging that decisions are constructed through social interaction and organizational context. The model will be used in further research to develop decision support interventions to assist with the assessment and management of patients with dementia in acute hospital settings.

A synthesis of qualitative research exploring the barriers to staying in work with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

PURPOSE: Qualitative research can help to advance our understanding, management and prevention of work disability. Our aim was to integrate qualitative research findings in order to increase our understanding of barriers to stay in work with chronic pain. METHODS: We searched five electronic bibliographic databases until September 2012, supplemented by citation tracking and hand-searching. We used meta-ethnography to synthesis our findings. Central to meta-ethnography is identifying "concepts" and developing a conceptual model. Concepts were compared and organised into categories. RESULTS: The following categories can have an impact on the decision to remain in work: struggling to affirm myself as a good worker; balancing life and work in the face of unpredictable symptoms; my work colleagues don't believe me; the system does not facilitate return to work; the battle for legitimacy. CONCLUSIONS: Our innovation is to present an internationally relevant model based on a conceptual synthesis. This model highlights the adversarial work experience of people with chronic. The papers span 15 years of qualitative research. A significant finding is that these themes continue to pervade the current work environment for those in pain, and this has clear implications for education, social care and policy. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: People with chronic pain face an adversarial struggle to maintain their credibility at work. Strategies to maintain personal credibility can have an adverse effect on working lives. Changes at a systems level are needed to facilitate continuance and return to work. Cultural changes in the way that we view people with pain would help to keep people in work.

Meta-ethnography 25 years on: challenges and insights for synthesising a large number of qualitative studies.

Studies that systematically search for and synthesise qualitative research are becoming more evident in health care, and they can make an important contribution to patient care. Our team was funded to complete a meta-ethnography of patients' experience of chronic musculoskeletal pain. It has been 25 years since Noblit and Hare published their core text on meta-ethnography, and the current health research environment brings additional challenges to researchers aiming to synthesise qualitative research. Noblit and Hare propose seven stages of meta-ethnography which take the researcher from formulating a research idea to expressing the findings. These stages are not discrete but form part of an iterative research process. We aimed to build on the methods of Noblit and Hare and explore the challenges of including a large number of qualitative studies into a qualitative systematic review. These challenges hinge upon epistemological and practical issues to be considered alongside expectations about what determines high quality research. This paper describes our method and explores these challenges. Central to our method was the process of collaborative interpretation of concepts and the decision to exclude original material where we could not decipher a concept. We use excerpts from our research team's reflexive statements to illustrate the development of our methods.

Study of irritable bowel syndrome and co-existing psychological illness.

AIM: To assess the feasibility of using qualitative methods to explore psychological comorbidities associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). BACKGROUND: IBS is a condition that often has a significant effect on quality of life. It has a high prevalence of co-existing psychological illness, which has been associated with more severe and persistent symptoms and an increased need for specialist referral. Only a small number of research studies have explored patients' perceptions and experiences of IBS, particularly when they are compounded by the presence of psychological comorbidity. DATA SOURCES: Semi-structured interview methods were used to explore the patients' experiences and perceptions of IBS and co-existing psychological illness. REVIEW METHODS: All interview data were transcribed before conducting a thematic analysis. DISCUSSION: The paper reports the methods used to conduct a small feasibility study and discusses and justifies these methods. Methodological issues and the implications these may have on the conduct of the study are presented and critically discussed. CONCLUSION: Important issues were identified during the design and conduct of the feasibility study relating to the quality of participant information, participant recruitment and the suitability of the proposed methods. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH/PRACTICE: Semi-structured interviews are suitable methods for exploring complex issues such as the psychological comorbidities associated with IBS. Further research should explore the patient perception and experience of concomitant psychological illness, which would help researchers develop effective interventions for patients with IBS.

Patients' experiences of chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain: a qualitative systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is one of the most predominant types of pain and accounts for a large portion of the primary care workload. AIM: To systematically review and integrate the findings of qualitative research to increase understanding of patients' experiences of chronic non-malignant MSK pain. DESIGN AND SETTING: Synthesis of qualitative research using meta-ethnography using six electronic databases up until February 2012 (Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Psychinfo, Amed and HMIC). METHOD: Databases were searched from their inception until February 2012, supplemented by hand-searching contents lists of specific journals for 2001-2011 and citation tracking. Full published reports of qualitative studies exploring adults' own experience of chronic non-malignant MSK pain were eligible for inclusion. RESULTS: Out of 24 992 titles, 676 abstracts, and 321 full texts were screened, 77 papers reporting 60 individual studies were included. A new concept of pain as an adversarial struggle emerged. This adversarial struggle was to: 1) affirm self; 2) reconstruct self in time; 3) construct an explanation for suffering; 4) negotiate the healthcare system; and 5) prove legitimacy. However, despite this struggle there is also a sense for some patients of 6) moving forward alongside pain. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides a theoretical underpinning for improving patient experience and facilitating a therapeutic collaborative partnership. A conceptual model is presented, which offers opportunities for improvement by involving patients, showing them their pain is understood, and forming the basis to help patients move forward alongside their pain.

The Perception of Nurses and Doctors on a Care Bundle Guideline for Management of Pain in Critical Care / Percepción de enfermeras y médicos sobre el uso de un paquete de atención como una guía para el manejo del dolor en cuidados críticos / A percepção das enfermeiras e dos médicos sobre o uso de um pacote de atendimento como guia para lidar com a dor em cuidados críticos

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore nurses' and doctors' perception on using a care bundle as a guideline for the management of pain in critical care. Despite the development of evidence-based guidelines and protocols on the management of pain in critical care, pain is still a major problem. The introduction of care bundles in critical care has improved the management of ventilated patients. A care bundle in pain management aims to reduce variations in practice. Method: This study employed a qualitative prospective design using a semi-structured, in-depth interview of 23 nurses and doctors in a critical care unit. Result: Four main themes emerged: 1) suitability to the critical care setting; 2) applicability to the critical care setting; 3) ownership of the Pain Care Bundle; and 4) necessity for current practice. The results showed a poor uptake by the healthcare professionals in managing acute pain among critically ill patients. Conclusion: The study found that nurses and doctors did not perceive the pain care bundle as a useful tool for improving pain managment, with evidence pointing to a gap between pain management practice, as described by the care bundle, and actual practice.

Objetivo: el objetivo de este estudio fue explorar la percepción de las enfermeras y los médicos sobre el uso de un paquete de atención como una guía para el manejo del dolor en cuidados críticos. A pesar del desarrollo de guías y protocolos para el manejo del dolor en cuidados críticos, basados en la evidencia, el dolor sigue siendo un problema importante. La introducción de un paquete de atención para cuidados críticos ha mejorado el manejo de los pacientes ventilados. Un paquete de atención en el manejo del dolor tiene como objetivo reducir las variaciones en la práctica. Método: el estudio tiene un diseño prospectivo cualitativo desarrollado mediante una entrevista en profundidad y semi-estructurada de 23 enfermeros y médicos en una unidad de cuidado crítico. Resultado: cuatro temas principales surgieron: 1) la adecuación al escenario de cuidado crítico, 2) la aplicabilidad al escenario de cuidado crítico, 3) la propiedad del Paquete de Atención al Dolor, y 4) la necesidad en la práctica actual. Los resultados mostraron una pobre aceptación del paquete por parte de los profesionales de la salud en el manejo de dolor agudo en los enfermos críticos. Conclusión: el estudio encontró que las enfermeras y los médicos no percibieron el paquete de atención al dolor como una herramienta útil para mejorar el manejo del dolor, con pruebas que apuntan a una brecha entre la práctica del manejo del dolor, tal como se describe por el paquete de atención, y la práctica real.

Objetivo: o objetivo deste estudo foi explorar a percepção das enfermeiras e dos médicos sobre o uso de um pacote de atendimento como guia para lidar com a dor em cuidados críticos. Apesar do desenvolvimento de guias e protocolos para lidar com a dor em cuidados críticos, baseados na evidência, a dor continua sendo um problema importante. A introdução de um pacote de atendimento para cuidados críticos vem melhorando o tratamento dado a pacientes ventilados. Um pacote de atendimento no tratamento da dor tem como objetivo reduzir as variações na prática. Método: o estudo tem um desenho prospectivo qualitativo desenvolvido mediante uma entrevista em profundidade e semiestruturada de 23 enfermeiros e médicos em uma unidade de cuidado crítico. Resultado: quatro temas principais surgiram: 1) a adequação ao cenário de cuidado crítico; 2) a aplicabilidade ao cenário de cuidado crítico; 3) a propriedade do Pacote de Atendimento à Dor, e 4) a necessidade na prática atual. Os resultados mostraram uma baixa aceitação do pacote por parte dos profissionais em saúde no tratamento da dor aguda nos doentes críticos. Conclusão: o estudo constatou que as enfermeiras e os médicos não perceberam o pacote de atendimento à dor como uma ferramenta útil para melhorar o tratamento da dor, com provas que apontam a uma brecha entre a prática do tratamento da dor, tal como se descreve pelo pacote de atendimento, e a prática real.

Competency in managing care in epidural analgesia.

BACKGROUND: Epidural analgesia (EA) is effective in providing postoperative pain relief, but has potential complications. An audit was carried out to measure the knowledge, skills and adherence to protocols of nurses deemed competent to care for patients receiving EA. METHOD: This audit assessed the recording of observations, staff practices and knowledge against the trust's policy for EA care. RESULTS: All observation charts examined (n = 16) were incomplete. Nurses (n = 9) scored a mean of 24.4 out of a possible 28 points in the observational assessment. Six (66%) questionnaires were returned. The nurses scored a mean of 75% on the questionnaires. CONCLUSION: The results from the audit should be viewed with caution as the amount of data collected was small, but suggest there is a need for changes to the protocol for epidural observations and the associated teaching programme. Further results that can be more easily generalised.

'Trying to pin down jelly' - exploring intuitive processes in quality assessment for meta-ethnography.

BACKGROUND: Studies that systematically search for and synthesise qualitative research are becoming more evident in health care, and they can make an important contribution to patient care. However, there is still no agreement as to whether, or how we should appraise studies for inclusion. We aimed to explore the intuitive processes that determined the 'quality' of qualitative research for inclusion in qualitative research syntheses. We were particularly interested to explore the way that knowledge was constructed. METHODS: We used qualitative methods to explore the process of quality appraisal within a team of seven qualitative researchers funded to undertake a meta-ethnography of chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain. Team discussions took place monthly between October 2010 and June 2012 and were recorded and transcribed. Data was coded and organised using constant comparative method. The development of our conceptual analysis was both iterative and collaborative. The strength of this team approach to quality came from open and honest discussion, where team members felt free to agree, disagree, or change their position within the safety of the group. RESULTS: We suggest two core facets of quality for inclusion in meta-ethnography - (1) Conceptual clarity; how clearly has the author articulated a concept that facilitates theoretical insight. (2) Interpretive rigour; fundamentally, can the interpretation 'be trusted?' Our findings showed that three important categories help the reader to judge interpretive rigour: (ii) What is the context of the interpretation? (ii) How inductive is the interpretation? (iii) Has the researcher challenged their interpretation? CONCLUSIONS: We highlight that methods alone do not determine the quality of research for inclusion into a meta-ethnography. The strength of a concept and its capacity to facilitate theoretical insight is integral to meta-ethnography, and arguably to the quality of research. However, we suggest that to be judged 'good enough' there also needs to be some assurance that qualitative findings are more than simply anecdotal. Although our conceptual model was developed specifically for meta-ethnography, it may be transferable to other research methodologies.

Challenges faced by nurses in managing pain in a critical care setting.

AIM: To explore nurses' challenges in managing pain among ill patients in critical care. BACKGROUND: Pain can lead to many adverse medical consequences and providing pain relief is central to caring for ill patients. Effective pain management is vital since studies show patients admitted to critical care units still suffer from significant levels of acute pain. The effective delivery of care in clinical areas remains a challenge for nurses involved with care which is dynamic and constantly changing in critically ill. DESIGN: Qualitative prospective exploratory design. METHODS: This study employed semi structured interviews with nurses, using critical incident technique. Twenty-one nurses were selected from critical care settings from a large acute teaching health care trust in the UK. A critical incident interview guide was constructed from the literature and used to elicit responses. RESULTS: Framework analysis showed that nurses perceived four main challenges in managing pain namely lack of clinical guidelines, lack of structured pain assessment tool, limited autonomy in decision making and the patient's condition itself. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses' decision making and pain management can influence the quality of care given to critically ill patients. It is important to overcome the clinical problems that are faced when dealing with pain experience. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: There is a need for nursing education on pain management. Providing up to date and practical strategies may help to reduce nurses' challenges in managing pain among critically ill patients. Broader autonomy and effective decision making can be seen as beneficial for the nurses besides having a clearer and structured pain management guidelines.

Experiences of analgesic use in patients with low back pain.

Back pain affects a large proportion of the population. It can impact on an individual's ability to function and on their quality of life, and can also incur significant economic, NHS and personal costs. The approach to the treatment of back pain has undergone significant changes in the past 10 years. Current guidelines emphasize the importance of maintaining activity and support the role of analgesics in facilitating active rehabilitation. There is evidence that many patients with chronic conditions do not use medication in the way they were prescribed. Fears associated with analgesics may compound this in those experiencing pain. There is limited research into the attitudes and experiences of sufferers of low back pain who have been prescribed analgesics. This qualitative study explored, through interviews, the attitudes to analgesic use of 16 patients referred to a community-based back pain programme. A thematic analysis was conducted and identified five key themes. The findings suggest that patients are generally confused about the value of complying with their analgesic regime as healthcare professionals do not give them sufficient explanation when the prescriptions are issued.

Patients referred to a pain management clinic: beliefs, expectations and priorities.

AIM: This paper is a report of a study to explore patients' pain-beliefs and emotions at the point of referral to a pain clinic, their expectations of the clinic and their priorities for improvement in aspects of their lives affected by pain. BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is a common experience and, although the percentage of people with pain referred to pain clinics is increasing, they often experience complex journeys through the healthcare system. Patients' beliefs about pain have been shown to influence their experience of pain and treatment outcomes, with a focus on the organic cause of pain reported. METHODS: Three focus groups were convened with 18 participants. Ten statements about pain were distributed to each participant and ranked according to their priorities. The data were collected in 2002-2003. FINDINGS: The participants' beliefs were dominated by the search for a firm diagnosis and cure. Participants held three main beliefs; that the cause of the pain must be established; that other people do not believe in the pain of a person without a firm diagnosis; and that painkillers are a way of 'fobbing you off'. Participants had little knowledge and few concrete expectations of the pain clinic. Their main priorities for improvement were 'less pain', 'some pain free times', and being able to do more 'everyday things'. CONCLUSION: Staff delivering pain management services must understand patients' beliefs and expectations and explain their own perspectives in order to provide a sound basis for working together.

A voice for nursing.

The Pain Society has become a broader based organisation, with nurses taking key roles in its development, with the aim of improving care for patients in pain.

Student nurses' attitudes to pain relieving drugs.

This paper reports the results of a longitudinal survey of 217 student nurses undertaken during their common foundation programme (CFP), which comprises the first 18 months of the course. The study explored changes during the CFP in students' perceptions of the risk of addiction and their attitudes towards analgesics. The results revealed that although the students had a more accurate view of the risk of addiction by the end of the CFP there was still an exaggerated fear of the risk of addiction in over half the students. Follow-up interviews with 14 students also indicated that students displayed a more general wariness in relation to the use of analgesics.

Management of pain in older people within the nursing home: a preliminary study.

The provision of continuing care for older people has largely shifted from the hospital setting to the community, and nursing homes increasingly provide support for older people, many of whom exhibit multiple pathology and complex health and social care needs. However, the quality of pain management within this setting has been identified as an issue of concern. It has been estimated that approximately two-thirds of people aged 65 years and over experience chronic pain, and that the prevalence of chronic pain in nursing home residents is between 45% and 80%. However, there exist a number of barriers to the identification and management of chronic pain among older people resident in nursing homes, including sensory impairments in older people themselves and educational deficits among professionals. Such barriers need to be overcome if pain management is to be improved. The present study involved administering a pre-piloted postal questionnaire to the managers of 121 nursing homes within a geographically defined area. Sixty-eight (56%) were completed and returned. The questionnaire broadly covered the following: prevalence of chronic pain and use of interventions; assessment and management strategies; education and training; and communication barriers. Overall, 37% of nursing home residents were identified as experiencing chronic non-malignant pain (pain lasting longer than 3 months not caused by cancer) and 2% were reported as experiencing chronic malignant pain (pain lasting for more than 3 months caused by cancer). Paracetamol was identified as the most 'often' used analgesia for both pain modalities. Sixty-nine per cent of nursing homes did not have a written policy regarding pain management and 75% did not use a standardised pain assessment tool. Forty-four per cent of nursing homes provided education or training sessions for qualified staff and 34% provided this for care assistants. Forty per cent of qualified staff and 85% of care assistants had no specialist knowledge regarding the management of pain in older people. The present study confirms the need for the development of effective pain management strategies underpinned by appropriate training and education in order to meet the particular needs of older people.