AIMS
IMPACCT (Improving the Management of Pain from Advanced Cancer in the CommuniTy) is a programme of research with patients that have pain from advanced cancer living in the community, their carers and their healthcare professionals. IMPACCT will benefit NHS patients suffering with cancer pain by integrating pain assessment in clinical care, communicating pain-related data between primary and secondary care, targeted education of patients, and modifying prescriber behaviour. The programme aims to (a) reduce the extent of pain and related distress, (b) reduce pain-related hospital admissions.
The principal research questions that the programme will address are:
(i) Can we model and test a care pathway for patients with cancer pain in which pain assessment and intervention are optimised?
(ii) Can systems for capturing and communicating clinical and patient-reported outcomes be integrated into routine practice by community based professionals?
(iii) Can community-based professionals deliver a brief educational intervention that targets patient knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy toward pain control?
(iv) Can the most important influences on professional prescribing practice potentially be modified to ensure that patients with cancer pain benefit from timely and effective analgesia?
(v) Can a care pathway (based on i-iv) be clinically and cost effective in reducing pain and related distress, and on reducing pain-related hospital admissions?