Managing breakthrough cancer pain: a new approach

Every day, nurses in all clinical settings work closely with patients who are experiencing various types and intensities of pain. Advances in pain management have given present patients and their families a variety of options that allow them a renewed dimension to the quality of their lives; an ability to live more productively and face the end of life in comfort. Because all nurses must keep up to date on basic principles of assessment, pain management, and current pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches to pain, AJN and Home Healthcare Nurse are proud to provide our readers with important information about pain management and a new medication recently approved by the FDA: oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (Actiq). You can apply the information in this supplement in your daily practice as you assess your patients' level of pain, plan and evaluate interventions, and collaborate with members of the interdisciplinary team. Your goal--to help patients determine the appropriate treatments and dosages for their own unique pain needs--is supported throughout the following pages. We would like to thank the Anesta Corp. and Abbott Laboratories, Hospital Products Division, for making this supplement possible through an educational grant. We know that not only our colleagues but our patients and their families will greatly benefit from the information presented.