New approaches for evaluating the quality of cancer pain management in the outpatient setting.

Both retrospective and prospective methods can be used to evaluate the quality of cancer pain management in the outpatient setting. Retrospective evaluations of the quality of cancer pain management in the outpatient setting provide benchmark data that can be used to change clinical practice for groups of patients or for specific types of cancer pain problems. Prospective evaluations of the quality of cancer pain management with patient diaries in the outpatient/home care setting can help clinicians do "real-time" evaluations and modify the pain management plan for individual patients. This report provides practical suggestions for evaluating the quality of cancer pain management in the outpatient setting.