What do people with sickle cell disease want clinicians to understand about pain?

Details

Pain in sickle cell disease (SCD) has profound emotional and psychological consequences. Poor communication between clinicians and people with SCD can worsen the experience of acute pain, but strategies to improve these interactions remain unclear. The researchers aimed to understand how people with SCD communicate with clinicians about pain and how that communication could be improved.

They conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 30 people with SCD aged 16 and older. They used rapid qualitative analysis to provide early insights for developing an intervention.

Five themes emerged: people with SCD want clinicians to believe their pain experiences, show they care, and demonstrate knowledge about SCD; SCD-related pain directly affects the ability to communicate; the content and pace of communication about pain should be tailored to its severity; prior experiences influence how people with SCD communicate about pain; and healthcare system and institutional factors can positively influence patient-clinician communication in SCD.

The researchers concluded that empathic communication can have a significant impact on the pain experience of people with SCD. They suggested that training clinicians in SCD-specific empathic communication skills may improve pain care for this population.