title: What doctors know about cancer pain management: an exploratory study in Sarawak, Malaysia.
abstract: Effective cancer pain management is influenced by the attitudes and knowledge of treating physicians. A survey was conducted among the total population of government hospital doctors of Sarawak to study the barriers to cancer pain management. Two hundred and fifty-three respondents (83%) completed the survey. The study results highlight that knowledge about cancer pain management was low and barriers to morphine prescription were high. A majority of doctors were deterred from using morphine because of fear of addiction (36.5%) and respiratory depression (53.1%). Only 16.2% of the doctors chose the oral mode of administration to treat pain, furthermore 25% prescribed morphine on "PRN" basis. Doctors with undergraduate study in oncology consistently answered better suggesting that the situation can be improved by education. This study showed that barriers to morphine prescription and knowledge deficit amongst government doctors in Sarawak are strong but similar to those reported in western countries few years ago.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy & Oncology, Sarawak General Hsopital, 93586 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. devina@pc.jaring.my
authors.forename: Beena C R
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Devi
authors.forename: Tieng Swee
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Marilys
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corbex
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000139:chemically induced
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D009020:Morphine