Nursing Practice for Patients with Cancer Pain with Predicted Prognosis of Months or Weeks: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study in Japan

Background: Nonpharmacological therapies implemented by nurses in clinical practice for patients with cancer pain remain unclear. Objective: To investigate nursing support for patients with cancer pain in Japanese palliative care units (PCUs). Design: Nationwide online survey. Setting/Subjects: Registered nurses in Japanese PCUs. Measurements: Herein, we conducted a questionnaire survey to assess the frequency of care implementation for 23 nursing support items for patients with cancer pain with prognoses anticipated in the scale of weeks or months, asking nurses working in PCUs to respond anonymously. We did not perform statistical tests on the results, instead of calculating descriptive statistics on implementation frequencies. Results: We requested surveys from 389 PCUs nationwide and 162 participated. Of 2,448 invited nurses, 539 (22.3%) responded. The implementation frequencies for the 23 nursing support items were almost the same for patients with prognosis anticipated in the scale of weeks or months. Approximately 80% frequently provide comfort care (environmental adjustment/mental health care/oral care) and adjust postures and positions. Conversely, support options frequently implemented by <20% of the participants included progressive muscle relaxation therapy, guided imagery therapy, combined therapy, cognitive behavioral intervention, reflexology, self-administered acupressure, exercise, poetry appreciation, auricular acupressure, relaxation using virtual reality, and reiki. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that comfort care and positioning adjustments are frequently provided for patients with cancer with prognosis anticipated in the scale of weeks or months to improve well-being. Nursing support practices requiring specialized skills were less frequently implemented. These results offer insights for expanding palliative care support options.