The wife of a patient you are caring for asks to speak with you. She tells you that she is concerned because her husband is requiring more and more pain medication
She states, "He was in pain long before he got cancer because he broke his back about 20 years ago. His pain medicine wasn't just raised and raised for that pain." What would be the nurses' best response?
A) "I didn't know that. I will speak to the doctor about your husband's pain control."
B) "Cancer pain can be either acute or chronic. Most cancer pain is caused by tumor involvement and needs to be treated in a way that brings the patient relief."
C) "Cancer is an acute kind of pain so the more it hurts the patient, the more medicine we give the patient until it doesn't hurt anymore."
D) "Does the increasing medication dosage concern you?"
Ans: B
Feedback: Pain associated with cancer may be acute or chronic. Most pain associated with cancer is a direct result of tumor involvement. Option A is incorrect; conveying patient/family concerns to the physician is something a nurse does, but it does not give the best response by the nurse. Option C is incorrect; cancer pain can be either acute or chronic, and you do not tell a family member that you are going to keep increasing the dosage of the medication until "it doesn't hurt anymore." Option D is incorrect; it is an appropriate question for the nurse to ask, but it is not the best answer for the scenario provided.
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