Porzio Giampiero, Valenti Marco, Aielli Federica, Verna Lucilla, Narducci Filomena, Valeriani Maurizio, Ricevuto Enrico, Ficorella Corrado, Marchetti Paolo, Tombolini Vincenzo
Supportive Care and Rehabilitation Unit, Medical Oncology Department, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
Support Care Cancer. 2005 Apr;13(4):215-8. doi: 10.1007/s00520-004-0687-1. Epub 2004 Oct 9.
The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge possessed and the attitudes held by Italian radiotherapists regarding evaluation and treatment of pain.
One hundred and twenty-six radiotherapists completed a 16-item questionnaire that was specifically designed to investigate three main topics: the attention paid to pain, the use of analgesics, and pain in children. Chi-square or Fisher's exact text was employed to evaluate differences based on position (staff/resident), age (<35 or >35 years old), availability of consultants in pain therapy and/or palliative care, colleagues with main interest in palliative care among their own staff, and region of residence (north/center/south of Italy).
Overall percentage of correct answers was 76.6% (range 34.9-94.4%). Correct answers by groups of items were: attention paid to pain 77.3%, use of analgesics 81.5%, and pain in children 63.7%.
Results of the survey demonstrate that knowledge and attitudes of Italian radiotherapists towards the approach to and treatment of pain can be considered satisfactory.
