Grossman S A
Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Baltimore, MD 21287.
Support Care Cancer. 1994 Mar;2(2):105-10. doi: 10.1007/BF00572091.
A comprehensive assessment of cancer pain is the first and perhaps most important step toward pain relief. Yet, this assessment is frequently neglected in patients with cancer pain. This paper addresses five important aspects of cancer pain assessment: (1) What constitutes cancer pain assessment? (2) Why is it important? (3) Why is it frequently overlooked? (4) How can a cancer pain assessment program be implemented? (5) What changes can be expected as a result of routine cancer pain assessments? The fundamental assumptions underlying this discussion are that health-care providers must understand the intensity of their patients' pain and the likely etiology of that discomfort to direct an appropriate diagnostic evaluation and to initiate and evaluate the success of therapy. Instituting a routine pain assessment program need not be difficult. The recommended procedures must be simple, quantifiable, relevant, and recorded in the medical record. Routine pain assessment will promote a heightened sense of awareness and responsibility about cancer pain issues in health-care providers, improved communication between the patient and the health-care provider, the development of cancer pain quality-assurance programs, and improved care for patients with cancer and pain.
对癌症疼痛进行全面评估是缓解疼痛的首要且或许是最重要的一步。然而，癌症疼痛患者的这一评估常常被忽视。本文论述了癌症疼痛评估的五个重要方面：（1）什么构成癌症疼痛评估？（2）为何它很重要？（3）为何它常常被忽视？（4）如何实施癌症疼痛评估方案？（5）常规癌症疼痛评估会带来哪些预期变化？本次讨论的基本假设是，医疗保健提供者必须了解患者疼痛的强度以及该不适可能的病因，以便指导进行适当的诊断评估，并启动和评估治疗的成效。建立一个常规疼痛评估方案并不一定困难。推荐的程序必须简单、可量化、相关且记录在病历中。常规疼痛评估将提高医疗保健提供者对癌症疼痛问题的认识和责任感，改善患者与医疗保健提供者之间的沟通，促进癌症疼痛质量保证方案的制定，并改善对癌症疼痛患者的护理。
