Bedside Charting of Pain Levels in Hospitalized Patients with Cancer

A Randomized Controlled Trial

Richard L. Kravitz, Judith P. Delafield, Ron D. Hays, Rae Drazin, Matthew Conolly

ResearchPosted on rand.org 1996Published In: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, v. 11, no. 2, Feb. 1996, p. 81-87

Examines bedside charting of pain levels in hospitalized patients with cancer to see if it yields an improvement in pain control in cancer patients. There were 40 patients in the intervention group, 38 patients in the control group, and a randomized trial. The major intervention was placement of graphically recorded pain assessments on bedside wall charts. The intervention group did not differ from the control group significantly on pain control, sleep, cancer-related symptoms, or analgesic dosing. But, because of the small size of the study, confidence intervals were broad. Unfortunately, this intervention was disappointing.

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