Amy E. Moore on Pain Management for Patients Undergoing Bone Marrow Biopsy

Amy E. Moore, MSN, BSN, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, discusses pain management in adult patients with cancer who are having bone marrow aspiration and biopsy.

Moore listed a number of factors that cause adult patients to only be treated with local anesthetic, rather than measures such as sedation, which is common when younger oncology patients have a cancer-related procedure done. Adults have more comorbidities that may make doctors apprehensive to sedate them. Also, the standard of care is different in pediatric patients than it is in adult patients, who usually just receive local lidocaine. But the big issue, Moore says, is that adult patients and their providers do not want one procedure to take a whole day, suggesting a need for research into interventions to improve the patient experience, including the development of a fast-acting but short-lasting pain management medication.