UF College of Nursing instructor receives national cancer scholarship

The American Cancer Society has awarded a $30,000 scholarship to a University of Florida clinical nursing instructor to support her studies aimed at assessing pain in older cancer patients.

Carmen Rodriguez, A.R.N.P., M.S.N., a clinical assistant professor in UF’s College of Nursing, is one of only eight nurses in the nation this year -- and the only nurse in Florida -- to receive the honor, which will fund research associated with her doctoral dissertation.

Rodriguez, who is working on her doctorate in nursing at the University of South Florida, is investigating the most effective way to evaluate pain in older patients who have head or neck cancer and speech and language impairments.

Rodriguez will compare three scales that require patients to rate pain severity either by selecting a number from one to 10, using descriptive phrases or choosing from facial expressions associated with varying degrees of discomfort. She will conduct her research in Gainesville.

How pain is assessed and treated has taken on a new level of importance in recent years. Since January, caregivers are now required to monitor and document pain as a key vital sign, along with blood pressure, pulse, respiration and temperature, according to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.