Is hands-on experience more effective than didactic workshops in postgraduate cancer pain education?

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study examined the nurse outcomes of a cancer pain education program for nurses of patients from 11 different ethnic groups. METHODS: Four hundred ninety six home, hospital, and hospice nurses participated in a one-day workshop or two half-day workshops on cancer pain assessment and management. Of these, 116 were randomized to participate in a bedside-precepted visit with an oncology nurse specialist with pain specialization and a focus group to discuss attitudinal issues. Eighty-six nurses served as controls. Pre-, post- and one-year follow-up tests were administered. RESULTS: Attitudes, knowledge, and application skills significantly improved for workshop-only and enriched-model nurses relative to controls. CONCLUSION: For postgraduate nurses, daylong cancer pain education workshops were, in the group studied, as effective as hands-on experience in improving cancer pain knowledge and changing attitudes. Both the workshop-only and the enriched-model nurses relative to controls had significantly improved knowledge and changed attitudes towards optimal pain management.