Catherine Black, Barry Aveyard, Paula Smith and
Pat Schofield discuss a funded study to develop an annotated bibliography consolidating all the available literature relating to the care of the patient with terminal cancer in pain. This article reports a summary of the literature around pain assessment and provides some recommendations for staff working with patients in the community in order for them to apply appropriate pain assessment scales and consequently improve the management of pain.
Catherine Black MA Ed, BA (Hons), DipHSM, RN, RNT is a Senior Lecturer, DHSS Education and Training, Isle of Man
Barry Aveyard RMN, RGN, BA (Hons), Cert ED, RNT, MA is a Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam University
Paula Smith PHD, MSc, DEN, RN is a Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam University
Pat Schofield PhD, RGN, PGDipEd, DipN is a Senior Lecturer, Centre of Advanced Nursing Studies, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Article accepted for publication: December 2006