Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Health Services Research
Published in: BMC Health Services Research 1/2024

Open Access 01-12-2024 | Telemedicine | Research

Management of pain in cancer patients— lessons from practices during the COVID-19: a qualitative study of cancer care providers’ perspectives

Authors: Georgina Cornall, Emma Zhao, Tim Luckett, Ertugrul Erciyas, David Monck, Paul Glare, Andy Wang, Yi-Ching Lee

Published in: BMC Health Services Research | Issue 1/2024

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted health systems globally and affected managing many chronic conditions, including cancer. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of multi-disciplinary cancer care providers on how cancer pain management was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Participants were eligible if they were cancer care providers of any specialty and discipline from two tertiary hospitals in Australia. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews to explore cancer care providers’ perspectives on cancer pain management within COVID-19. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts used an integrated approach that started with inductive coding before coding deductively against a behaviour framework called the COM-B Model, which proposes that ‘capability’, ‘motivation’ and ‘opportunity’ are requisites for any behaviour.

Results

Twenty-three providers participated. Five themes were developed and interpreted from the analysis of data, namely: “Telehealth enables remote access to cancer pain management but also created a digital divide”, “Access to cancer pain management in the community is compromised due to the pandemic”, “COVID-19 negatively impacts hospital resource allocation”, “Patients were required to trade off cancer pain management against other health priorities” and “Hospital restrictions result in decreased social and psychological support for patients with cancer pain”.

Conclusions

The landscape of cancer pain management in the Australian health system underwent substantial shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic, with lasting impacts. Cancer care providers perceived the pandemic to have significant adverse effects on pain management across multiple levels, with repercussions for patients experiencing cancer-related pain. A more adaptive health system model needs to be established in the future to accommodate vulnerable cancer patients.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Bennett MI, Kaasa S, Barke A, Korwisi B, Rief W, Treede RD. The IASP classification of chronic pain for ICD-11: chronic cancer-related pain. Pain. 2019;160(1):38–44.CrossRefPubMed
2.
3.
Travers A, Adler KA, Blanchard G, Bonaventura T, Charlton J, Day F, et al. Business as unusual: medical oncology services adapt and deliver during COVID-19. Intern Med J. 2021;51:673–81.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
4.
Aung E, Pasanen L, LeGautier R, McLachlan SA, Collins A, Philip J. The role of telehealth in oncology care: a qualitative exploration of patient and clinician perspectives. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2022;31(2):e13563.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Edge R, Mazariego C, Li Z, Canfell K, Miller A, Koczwara B, et al. Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients, survivors, and carers in Australia: a real-time assessment of cancer support services. Support Care Cancer. 2021;29(9):5463–73.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
6.
Edge R, Meyers J, Tiernan G, Li Z, Schiavuzzi A, Chan P, et al. Cancer care disruption and reorganisation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: a patient, carer and healthcare worker perspective. PLoS One. 2021;16(9):e0257420.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
7.
Sutherland K, Chessman J, Zhao J, Sara G, Shetty A, Smith S, et al. Impact of COVID-19 on healthcare activity in NSW, Australia. Public Health Res Pract. 2020;30(4).
8.
Wright M, Versteeg R, Hall J. General practice’s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Aust Health Rev. 2020;44(5):733–6.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Bradley EH, Curry LA, Devers KJ. Qualitative data analysis for health services research: developing taxonomy, themes, and theory. Health Serv Res. 2007;42(4):1758–72.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
10.
Tong A, Sainsbury P, Craig J. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. Int J Qual Health Care. 2007;19(6):349–57.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Kirchherr J, Charles K. Enhancing the sample diversity of snowball samples: recommendations from a research project on anti-dam movements in Southeast Asia. PLoS One. 2018;13(8):e0201710.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
12.
Michie S, van Stralen MM, West R. The behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implement Sci. 2011;6:42.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
13.
Michie S, Atkins L, West R. The behaviour change wheel: a guide to designing interventions. Silverback Publishing; 2014.
14.
Augusterfer EF, O’Neal CR, Martin SW, Sheikh TL, Mollica RF. The role of Telemental health, tele-consultation, and tele-supervision in post-disaster and low-resource settings. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2020;22(12):85.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
15.
16.
Cox A, Lucas G, Marcu A, Piano M, Grosvenor W, Mold F, et al. Cancer Survivors’ experience with telehealth: a systematic review and thematic synthesis. J Med Internet Res. 2017;19(1):e11.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
17.
Iyer S, Shafi K, Lovecchio F, Turner R, Albert TJ, Kim HJ, et al. The spine telehealth physical examination: strategies for success. HSS J. 2021;17(1):14–7.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
18.
19.
Yih C, Chokshi K, Kyriakides C, Seko K, Wahezi S, Shaparin N, et al. Point to area of pain: a clinically useful telehealth physical exam technique for focal nociceptive and neuropathic pain. Pain Physician. 2022;25(2):209–19.PubMed
20.
21.
Snoswell CL, Caffery LJ, Haydon HM, Thomas EE, Smith AC. Telehealth uptake in general practice as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Aust Health Rev. 2020;44(5):737–40.CrossRefPubMed
22.
van Erkel FM, Pet MJ, Bossink EH, van de Graaf CFM, Hodes MTJ, van Ogtrop SN, et al. Experiences of patients and health care professionals on the quality of telephone follow-up care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a large qualitative study in a multidisciplinary academic setting. BMJ Open. 2022;12(3):e058361.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Zomerdijk N, Jongenelis M, Yuen E, Turner J, Huntley K, Smith A, et al. Experiences and needs of people with haematological cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study. Psychooncology. 2022;31(3):416–24.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Geneen LJ, Moore RA, Clarke C, Martin D, Colvin LA, Smith BH. Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain in adults: an overview of Cochrane reviews. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;4(4):Cd011279.PubMed
25.
Gupta A, Eisenhauer EA, Booth CM. The time toxicity of Cancer treatment. J Clin Oncol. 2022;40(15):1611–5.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Brady B, Saberi G, Santalucia Y, Gorgees P, Nguyen TT, Le H, Sidhu B. 'Without support CALD patients will be left behind': A mixed-methods exploration of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) client perspectives of telehealth and those of their healthcare providers. J Telemed Telecare. 2023;1357633X231154943.https://​doi.​org/​10.​1177/​1357633X23115494​3. Epub ahead of print.
27.
Burgess DJ, Crowley-Matoka M, Phelan S, Dovidio JF, Kerns R, Roth C, et al. Patient race and physicians’ decisions to prescribe opioids for chronic low back pain. Soc Sci Med. 2008;67(11):1852–60.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Zaza C, Baine N. Cancer pain and psychosocial factors: a critical review of the literature. J Pain Symptom Manag. 2002;24(5):526–42.CrossRef
29.
Shiner CT, Gardner T, Haskelberg H, Li I, Faux SG, Millard M, et al. The uptake and effectiveness of a multidisciplinary online program for managing chronic pain before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pain Med. 2022;23(9):1621–30.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Raffan F, Anderson T, Sinclair T, Shaw M, Amanatidis S, Thapa R, et al. The virtual care experience of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. J Patient Exp. 2021;8:23743735211008310.PubMedPubMedCentral
31.
Maniaci MJ, Maita K, Torres-Guzman RA, Avila FR, Garcia JP, Eldaly A, et al. Provider evaluation of a novel virtual hybrid Hospital at Home Model. Int J Gen Med. 2022;15:1909–18.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
32.
Page A, Broom A, Kenny K, Lwin Z, Wakefield CE, Itchins M, et al. Experiencing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic whilst living with Cancer. Qual Health Res. 2022;32(3):426–39.CrossRefPubMed
33.
McBride KE, Steffens D, Solomon MJ. From the sidelines: the indirect repercussions of COVID-19 on the delivery of hospital surgical services. ANZ J Surg. 2021;91(7–8):1345–51.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
34.
Deer TR, Sayed D, Pope JE, Chakravarthy KV, Petersen E, Moeschler SM, et al. Emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Care of Chronic Pain: guidance for the Interventionalist. Anesth Analg. 2020;131(2):387–94.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Holton S, Wynter K, Trueman M, Bruce S, Sweeney S, Crowe S, et al. Immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work and personal lives of Australian hospital clinical staff. Aust Health Rev. 2021;45(6):656–66.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Management of pain in cancer patients— lessons from practices during the COVID-19: a qualitative study of cancer care providers’ perspectives
Authors
Georgina Cornall
Emma Zhao
Tim Luckett
Ertugrul Erciyas
David Monck
Paul Glare
Andy Wang
Yi-Ching Lee
Publication date
01-12-2024
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Health Services Research / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-10710-z

Other articles of this Issue 1/2024

BMC Health Services Research 1/2024 Go to the issue

Research

Key factors affecting health promoting behaviors among adolescents: a scoping review

Research

Hospital length of stay and readmission after elective surgery: a comparison of current and former smokers with non-smokers

Research

A collaborative endeavour to integrate leadership and person-centred ethics: a focus group study on experiences from developing and realising an educational programme to support the transition towards person-centred care

Research

Acceptance and expectations of healthcare workers and community during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Bhavnagar city, western India: a qualitative exploration

Research

Development of service standards and manpower calculation criteria for hospital clinical pharmacies in South Korea: a survey-based study

Correction

Correction: Trajectories of primary health care utilization: a 10-year follow-up after the Swedish Patient Choice Reform of primary health care