Experience of holistic understanding of cancer patient pain by expert cancer nurses

Abstract

Objective:

The present study aimed to reveal the experiences of expert cancer nurses as they interpret the meaning of pain felt by patients with cancer and gain a holistic understanding of their pain, while also aiming to obtain new nursing practice suggestions for understanding the pain of patients with cancer.

Method:

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the cooperation of three expert cancer nurses who had experience in understanding the meaning of pain felt by patients with cancer. Data analysis used the methodology of Giorgi's phenomenological approach.

Results:

The experiences of three expert cancer nurses holistically understanding the pain of patients with cancer revealed the following three common structures: 1) the expert nurse's sincere attitude towards patients created an emotional connection with the patients; 2) through interpersonal relations, expert nurses gained an understanding of patient-specific pain; and 3) expert nurses supported patients living their own lives.

Discussion:

The expert nurses' attitudes trying to understand pain created a human connection with the patients, in essence, the 'I' - 'Thou' relationship described by Buber. In the 'I' - 'Thou' relationship, expert nurses perceived each patient as a unique individual and understood the unique pain that each patient was going through.

Conclusion: To understand the total pain experienced by patients with cancer, nurses need to establish interpersonal relationships with the patients, and the nurses' attitudes toward building such relationships were found to be important. To acquire the expert nurses' sincere attitude toward patients, there is a need for nurses to first adopt ways that show their own personalities. Furthermore, it was suggested that the following are needed: (1) efforts to learn and enhance specialized knowledge and skills; (2) nurturing empathetic attitudes for engaging in touch and active listening; and (3) internal preparation of the nurses toward their resolve to experience pain together with the patients.