Objective To analyse the consistency of perioperative self-reported pain scores of lung cancer patients with clinical records to provide a basis for optimal pain management. MethodsThe patients with lung cancer who underwent surgical treatment in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital from November 2017 to January 2020 were selected. They were divided into two groups based on the source of pain data. The self-report group used a questionnaire in which patients self-reported their pain scores, and the pain scores for the clinical record group were extracted from the electronic medical record system. Kappa test was used to compare the concordance of pain scores between the two groups preoperatively, on postoperative 1-6 days and on the day of discharge. McNemar's paired χ2 test was used to compare the differences in pain intensity levels between the two groups. Binary logistic multi-factor regression was used to analyse the factors influencing the concordance of severe pain (7-10 points) between the two groups. Results Totally 354 patients were collected, including 191 males and 163 females, with an average age of 55.64±10.34 years. The median postoperative hospital stay was 6 days. The consistency of pain scores between the two groups was poor (Kappa=–0.035 to 0.262, P<0.05), and the distribution of pain levels at each time point was inconsistent and statistically significant (P<0.001). The percentage of inconsistent severe pain assessment ranged from 0.28% to 35.56%, with the highest percentage of inconsistent severe pain assessment on postoperative day 1 (35.56%). Single-port thoracoscopic surgical access was an influencing factor for inconsistent assessment of severe pain on postoperative day 3 (OR=2.571, P=0.005). Conclusion Self-reported perioperative pain scores of lung cancer patients are poorly aligned with clinical records. Clinical measures are needed to improve the accuracy of patient pain data reporting by choosing the correct assessment method, increasing education, and developing effective quality control measures.
A team with strong cohesion and high execution is an important guarantee for conducting high-quality and sustainable clinical researches. Combined with the previous literature and the author’s view, this paper summarizes the key points of team building, which include a clear research direction, a balanced composition of team members, an outstanding team leader, the competence enhancement of team members, and a member-oriented management philosophy. Clear research direction is the premise of the existence and development of a team. Multi-level, multi-disciplinary membership can avoid potential conflicts of interest caused by homogeneity, and enable research to be refined and strengthened in interdisciplinary collisions. Team leader is the key to team development. The enhancement of team members’ competence is the cornerstone of team development. Adherence to member-oriented principle can form a true team culture. This paper aims to summarize and analyze the key points of clinical research team construction for peer reference.
ObjectiveTo investigate the use of opioid analgesics during the postoperative hospitalization in patients undergoing lung resection and analyse its influencing factors.MethodsThe clinical data of 450 patients undergoing lung resection in Sichuan Cancer Hospital among a multicenter symptom research database (CN-PRO-Lung 1) between November 2017 and January 2020 were analyzed. There were 248 males and 202 females with an average age of 54.7±10.3 years.ResultsA total of 448 (99.6%) patients used opioid analgesics. The average daily morphine equivalent dose during the postoperative hospitalization was 48.9 mg. There were statistical differences in postoperative morphine equivalent dose across patients with different sex, age, highest level of education, Charlson Comorbidity Index score, surgical approach, surgical type, operative time, postoperative hospital stay and grade of postoperative complications (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that sex, surgical approach and postoperative hospital stay were independent influencing factors for morphine use during the postoperative hospitalization in patients undergoing lung resection (all P<0.05).ConclusionIn clinical practice, attention should be paid to postoperative pain for male patients, as well as to promote the application of minimally invasive surgery, and to shorten the length of postoperative hospital stay, in order to ultimately reduce the use of opioids.
Objective To investigate the current status of constipation during postoperative hospitalization and the factors associated with moderate to severe constipation at discharge in lung cancer patients. Methods Lung cancer patients who underwent surgery in 6 tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province from November 2017 to January 2020 were enrolled. The MD Anderson Symptom Scale-Lung Cancer Module was used to collect postoperative constipation scores. Unconditional logistic stepwise regression was used to analyze the related influencing factors for moderate to severe constipation on the day of discharge. Results Finally 337 patients were collected. There were 171 males and 166 females, with an average age of 55.0±10.3 years. Constipation scores of lung cancer patients increased from postoperative day 1 to day 3, and showed a decreasing trend from day 3 to day 7. Moderate to severe constipation was present in 68 (20.2%) patients at discharge. The postoperative hospital stay (OR=0.743, P<0.001) and the dose of morphine used during postoperative hospitalization (OR=1.002, P=0.015) were influencing factors for moderate to severe constipation at discharge in lung cancer patients. ConclusionLung cancer patients have the most severe constipation on postoperative day 3. Moderate to severe constipation at discharge is associated with the postoperative hospital stay and the dose of morphine used during postoperative hospitalization.
The number of investigator initiated research (IIR) is increasing. But the recognition and management of IIR in China is still in its infancy, and there is a lack of specific and operable guidance for the implementation process. Based on our practical experiences, previous literature reports, and current policy regulations, the authors took prospective IIR as an example to summarize the implementation process of IIR into 14 steps, which are as the following: study initiation, ethical review, study registration, study filing, case report form design, database establishment, standard operating procedure making, investigator training, informed consent, data collection, data entry, data verification, data locking and data archiving.
Telephone follow-up is one of the important ways to follow up patients. High-quality follow-up can benefit both doctors and patients. However, clinical research-related follow-up is often faced with problems such as time-consuming, laborious and poor patient compliance. The authors belong to a team that has been committed to the study of patient-reported outcomes for a long time. The team has carried out long-term follow-up of symptoms, daily function and postoperative complications of more than 1 000 patients after lung cancer surgery, and accumulated certain experience. In this paper, the experience of telephone follow-up was summarized and discussed with relevant literatures from the aspects of clarifying the purpose of clinical research follow-up, understanding the needs of patients in follow-up, and using follow-up skills.