Palliative care pain control: inpatient consultation versus corounding models compared

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Palliative Care
• Health Services Research

Background:

• The traditional inpatient consultation model for cancer care may not optimize pain control.
• A novel corounding model, integrating palliative specialists with oncology teams, shows promise for improving care collaboration.
• The impact of the corounding model on inpatient pain management remains unexamined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of the corounding model versus the traditional consultation model in achieving good pain control for cancer inpatients.
• To evaluate pain severity and improvement in cancer patients under different care models.

Main Methods:

• An observational study included cancer patients with moderate to severe pain.
• Pain severity was assessed via electronic health records.
• Good pain control was defined as improvement to mild or no pain within 3 days of initial assessment; proportions were compared between the corounding and consultation models.

Main Results:

• The corounding model achieved good pain control in 77.3% of admissions, versus 71.8% in the consultation model.
• After adjusting for baseline characteristics, the corounding model demonstrated a significantly higher likelihood of achieving good pain control (adjusted OR, 2.25).
• A total of 128 and 142 admissions were analyzed under the corounding and consultation models, respectively.

Conclusions:

• The corounding model of care is associated with significantly better odds of achieving good pain control in cancer inpatients.
• The mechanisms driving the improved pain control in the corounding model require further investigation.
• This study provides a foundation for future research into the corounding model's benefits in palliative and oncology care.