Cancer Pain

Cancer-related pain may arise from the tumour, its treatment, or both. The nurse is not simply recording a number: the location, quality, timing, functional effect, and associated neurological or respiratory findings determine what can safely happen next. Screen the pain item with the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-Revised (ESAS-r). A score of 1–3 is mild, 4–6 is moderate, and 7–10 is severe. The score helps set urgency, but it does not replace a focused assessment. Burning pain, new weakness, pain with movement, pain returning before the next dose, and increasing drowsiness point to different clinical problems and different responses. For an RPN, assessment, medication administration, reassessment, teaching, and escalation occur within the prescriber’s order, employer policy, and provincial scope requirements. A practical nurse does not independently prescribe or select an opioid conversion. The safe pattern is to recognize the pain signal, check the order and relevant precautions, administer within scope, evaluate the response, and escalate when the response or the patient's condition does not fit the expected course.