In an effort to provide the best care toour patients, we evaluate any oncology patient in distress on the same day the request is made. This service treats both cancer pain and any other symptoms that may contribute to suffering. It is a resource to our entire hospital and consultations can be made from any department from within or outside the UCD Health System. Our service provides analgesic therapies for both inpatients and outpatients with malignant pain. Because these are often complex cases with dramatic diagnostic presentations, this service often challenges us to be diagnostically astute, therapeutically diverse, and prompt.
Cancer pain calls upon our widest therapeutic repertoire.
This includes diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, pharmacologic, psychiatric and psychologic interventional modalities, and above all, unyielding compassion. This presents us with an opportunity to remedy the lack of knowledge by clinicians about effective assessment and management and negative attitudes of clinicians toward treating pain. We not only provide clinical services to patients referred through the UCD Health System, but also offer consultations and training seminars to all types of physicians in the community. Furthermore, this service offers continuing education for attending faculty and staff throughout the UCD Medical Center and outlying hospitals. The Cancer Pain Service conducts a weekly multidisciplinary case conference directed by faculty and Pain Fellows.