Last plenaries for the day about to begin - I'll be tweeting from this one- What is needed for better outcomes for breakthrough cancer pain? #21OPCC 
Session chaired by Prof Gregory Crawford from Uni of Adelaide, Prof Andrew Davies from Trinity College, Dublin, Emeritus Prof Maree Smith from Uni of Qld, @diana_mbhf a #palliativecare researcher & cancer patient, & Dr Jessica Lee from Concord Centre for Palliative Care #21OPCC
Prof Andrew Davies - longstanding interest in breakthrough pain, disappointing thing is we still seem to have a problem in terms of diagnosing the problem, assessing it, and providing adequate medications #21OPCC
Prof Maree Smith - her interest is in the medicines that are available for breakthrough pain. What's really needed is an understanding of barriers to understanding the use of some medications over others? #21OPCC
Dr Diana Ferreria @diana_mbhf - experienced breakthrough pain when diagnosed with lymphoma, connected with movements and activities. Interested that when in hospital, pain scores collected, that do not necessarily relate to out-of-hospital settings #21OPCC
Dr Jessica Lee - pain assessment should be really comprehensive and cover not just pain, but other aspects that feed into it. ie how often pain occurs and severity of it #21OPCC
Dr Andrew Davies - diagnosis of breakthrough pain important, looking at characteristics of pain to help direct treatment methods. #21OPCC
"We've got a bit lazy in terms of pain control. We don't assess people quickly, & we don't reassess people" - Dr Davies #21OPCC
Dr Diana Ferreira @diana_mbhf - routine pain assessment very much embedded in the system and sometimes clinicians too much caught up in the score, and then too quick to medicate according to the pain score. #21OPCC
"Pain is much more complex than the physical sensation" - @diana_mbhf #21OPCC
Barriers to administration of breakthrough pain meds = dry mouths, education rqrd in completing lozenge meds, resources required by hospital staff to administer, misunderstanding of the pharmacology of the products #21OPCC
Dr Diana Ferrerira has experience prescribing Sublingual form, and similar experience to Jessica and Andrew- generally well-tolerated, some challenges in older people #21OPCC
From a patient perspective, she says "between one fentanyl and the next, there's a whole life to be lived." Sometimes, non-pharmacological therapies are as helpful in managing pain #21OPCC
Improving function and activities and quality of life is one of most important benefits of breakthrough pain therapies, and again, need to move away from managing pain scores #21OPCC
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
