Introduction: Pain Measurement is often difficult in terminally ill patients, espessially in case of unconsiousness. There is a need for a standardized method for measuring the occurance of pain.
Method: A Delphi inverstigation has been used. A Panel of foureen experienced nurses, spread across the Netherlands, who are all active in palliative terminal care, expressed their reasoned opinions in three written rounds of questioning. The definition of the phenomena, the extent to which they occur and the significance and combination of the phenomena were considered in this study.
Results and Conclusion: Following the third round of questioning, it can be concluded on the basis of this Delpi investigation that terminally cancer patients who are no longer responsive suffering of pain, if there is a combination of minimal two of the following phenomena: *the patient groans (on nursing actions) *the patient is agitated *the patient shows contortions of the face, hands and/or the whole body *the patient expresses emotions.