Project "Hospital without pain": analysis of the Italian situation before the law 38

Abstract 

Project "Hospital without pain": analysis of the Italian situation before the law 38. Background. Some years ago, the project "Pain free Hospital" started in Italy to improve standards of pain management. Recently, Italian government passed a new law, which sets patient's right to receive palliative care and pain therapy. Aim. To evaluate pain prevalence in Italian hospitals before the new Italian law, analyzing the articles published within the project "Pain free Hospital". Methods. We did a Medline research using the following key words: pain; "Pain free Hospital"; cancer patients; Italian; Italy, from 1995 to 2010, and contacted all Italian centers of pain therapy. Results. Six articles met inclusion criteria. Pain prevalence was unexpectedly high in all the studies examined, albeit with wide differences among hospitals (37,7%-91%). Discussion. Our research shows that pain is not adequately controlled in Italian hospitals, probably for many reasons (wards organization, difficulty in prescribing opioids, etc.) but, above all, due to "opiophobia". The new Italian law should guarantee better analgesic treatments for all patients with persistent pain, both oncological and non oncological.