Evaluation of the pain intensity differences among hospitalized cancer patients based on a nursing information system

Evaluating the absolute difference in pain intensity and the percentage difference in pain intensity could facilitate an understanding of pain reduction among cancer patients during repeated hospitalizations. Examinations of the absolute differences in pain intensity and the percentage differences in pain intensity according to the worst pain intensity and last evaluated pain intensity before discharge are lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the absolute and percentage difference in pain intensities among cancer patients with moderate or severe pain from their 1st to 18th hospitalizations from 2011–2013. A population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted. Pain intensity was assessed using scales and was recorded in a nursing information system. The absolute and percentage difference in pain intensities were examined via the one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and group differences in moderate or severe pain were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U test. For moderate pain patients, the mean absolute difference in pain intensity was 1.52, and the percentage difference in pain intensity was 29.0%; both these values were significant. More significant changes in the absolute and percentage difference in pain intensities were associated with severe pain patients. Both the average absolute difference in pain intensity (3.09) and the percentage difference in pain intensity (38.5%) in patients with severe pain were significantly higher than the average absolute difference in pain intensity (1.52) and the percentage difference in pain intensity (29.0%) in patients with moderate pain. Cancer patients with moderate and severe pain experienced pain reductions of approximately 30% and 40%, respectively. Early pain management intervention in patients with severe pain is necessary to achieve an obvious analgesic effect, and the formula of the percentage difference in pain intensity should be incorporated into the nursing information system to alert clinicians for early detection of the effectiveness of cancer pain management.