Knowledge and attitudes of residents and factors affecting pain management in palliative patients at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Cebu City

ABSTRACT

Background@#Pain management affects the quality of life of patients especially those transitioning to chronic or even palliative care. Objectives: This study investigated the knowledge and attitudes of residents on opioid use in palliative patients and factors affecting it at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Cebu.@*Methods@#A cross-sectional study with 94 residents from different departments of VSMMC in April 2020 – December 2020 was done. Survey questionnaires used with internal consistency reliability at (alpha r>.70) were adopted and data processing included means, frequencies, percentages, and Chi-square with a p-value < .05.@*Results@#About 43.62 % of respondents have inadequate knowledge and 36.2% have inadequate attitudes. Psychometric scale showed negative attitudes on constructs of addiction, operational use and non-dependence risks. Analyses showed no significant associations between knowledge and sex, training, year level, civil status, and Continuing Medical Education. Significant relationships exist between attitudes and residency training and between knowledge and attitudes.@*Conclusion@#A considerable gap of knowledge and attitudes exists among residents. The attitude towards morphine use is also found to be negative. These primarily undermine the quality of life of patients suffering from pain and further worsened by factors such as inadequate supply of morphine at the hospital and lack of S2 ownership among physicians.