Aims: To develop a Pain Needs Assessment Tool for national application for people with Pancreatic Cancer on behalf of Cancer Australia. The tool must effectively provide people living with pancreatic cancer a screening questionnaire to ensure the presence of pain is communicated to health professionals.
Methods: A systematic literature review was undertaken of pain assessment tools used in cancer pain management. A Working Group was established comprised of experts (n= 8) in quality-of-life measurement, pancreatic cancer care, primary care, pain medicine and community members from rural, regional and metropolitan areas across Australia to review, refine and develop a draft tool.
Stakeholder groups, including culturally and linguistically diverse community members, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, health professionals and peak bodies representing community members affected by pancreatic cancer, reviewed drafts over a series of four meetings. Through a process of iterative feedback from stakeholder discussions to the Working Groups, findings from literature reviews, local expertise and experience were progressively shaped to produce the outputs. Clinical guidance to support the use of the tool was developed with linkage to the Australian Cancer Pain Management in Adults Clinical Guideline.
Results: The Pain Needs Assessment Tool includes a screening tool with a pain numeric rating scale represented with categorical identifiers, faces and colours; seven questions were included specific to pancreatic cancer pain, information and support needs and side effects of medications. These were accompanied by a body chart. These were associated with clinical guidance for the screening tool and for comprehensive pain assessment for people with pancreatic cancer.
Conclusions: The Pain Needs Assessment Tool is applicable for use in routine care at every clinical encounter as part of the comprehensive care of people with pancreatic cancer.