Chronic Pain Patients: A Case Study

Research has shown that there are several organizations and active advocates who are working on pain management problems to face this public health issue. The following establishments involve: The American Academy of Pain Medicine, Institute of Medicine, and American Pain Society and many for-profit and nonprofit organizations are also working at different level towards pain management. Most specifically, the IOM has been devoted to studying pain and its consequences on individuals, the healthcare system, as well as on government (IOM, 2011).

More than 116 million Americans suffer from chronic pain which effects all races, yet multiple studies have indicated that African Americans and other minorities suffer disproportionately compared to whites in terms of the pain management therapies they receive. Less prevalent and less effective pain management are often attributed to caregiver bias, cultural differences, physiological differences or some combination of things. Most importantly this disparity highlights the need for improved training for healthcare providers and education for patients to help them receive better pain management treatment.

Persistent pain has psychological and social implications for daily life. It can severely limit an individual’s ability to work and be a productive member of society and decreases quality of life. In the face of increasing stigma and barriers to care, patients are struggling to procure the legal medications that alleviate their debilitating pain.

Health care providers have a great responsibility treating individuals with various medical conditions to ensure positive patient outcomes related to physical and psychological functioning. The most common condition patients seek treatment for is chronic pain and the most common location for treatment is the emergency department (ED). In addition, nurse practitioners are the most likely providers of care and often responsible for millions of Americans yearly in the ED (Balestra, 2016). Approximately 51% of ED visits in 2010 were for pain related complaints and 31% of the visits resulted in opioid prescriptions (Bohnert et al., 2016). This requires the nurse practitioner to be knowledgeable of resources to assist in making clinical decisions

Pain is a condition that is determined and described by the person reporting it. There are several components to pain including the emotional, psychological, and physical aspects. Many health professionals struggle to understand this phenomenon and thereby insert their own perspectives into the pain assessment of patient reporting pain. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) (2010), also titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act H.R. 3590, was passed by Congress and signed into law on March 23, 2010 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), 2013). Hospital value based purchasing programs (VBP) were developed to align patient quality care and outcomes to the support initiatives from the ACA. A component of the VBP includes patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is a self-reported response to questionnaire administered by a third party. Many hospitals utilize Press Ganey to administer the survey for the inpatient and outpatient patients. One component the survey includes patient’s self-reporting how well their pain was managed during their hospitalization. This measure of satisfaction can have an adverse effect on patient outcomes and increase opioid use in this setting. Patient satisfaction and pain management are both subjective however pain management while within scope of healthcare professionals should not be included in the patient satisfaction survey.

The paragraphs below describe the predominant clinical practice gaps in current management of chronic pain. As NPs increase their knowledge and competence in these areas, it is anticipated that changes in clinical practice will

In-depth interviews with various rural and urban based physicians of various ethnicities within the state of Florida were performed and relevant information was extracted. Common themes were identified and open-coding was utilized to categorize the physicians’ attitudes and behaviors for chronic pain management. Limitations included a small sample size within one region of the nation which limits the generalizability. Also, the data is based on stated behaviors of the physician and not directly based on their observed patient

Inpatients in adult psychiatric units who are diagnosed with chronic pain may be perceived as narcotic abusers. Even with the complete, proper physical and history assessment, it may not be fully determined whether or not they are receiving the sufficient pain regimen. The subjects who take part in this research are patients in a hospital’s psychiatric unit and must be diagnosed with chronic pain in order to fit the category. Healthcare providers classify psychiatric patients to abuse the healthcare system for the intention of obtaining free narcotics. The issue of this insight is

Dr. Huber has long battled with rheumatoid arthritis and the life of chronic pain that comes from it. In her book, she shares her unique perspective on pain both through research into how society conceptualizes pain and through her own experiences it. Some of the topics she covers are parenting while coping with chronic pain, having relationships, and how to manage a career while having chronic pain. In her research, she delves into the different culture’s concepts of pain. A large part of this research looked into pain scales and how patients communicate pain to their doctors. In her essays she expresses some of the flaws aspects of the healthcare system in hope it treats patients with chronic pain. In a fast-paced, find-it-fix-it medical culture it is difficult for chronic pain patients who cannot be fixed to get the appropriate care and treatment they

Herr, K., Titler, M., Fine, P. G., Sanders, S., Cavanaugh, J. E., Swegle, J., Forcucci, C. (2012) mentioned some of the challenges commonly faced regarding pain management, these include: misconceptions about pain, evaluating pain in those who have cognitive impairments, those with multiple co-morbidities, polypharmacy issues and those who are reluctant to take opioids analgesics. It has been noticed that the problem involves lack of application of Evidenced Based Practice (EBP) for pain by nurses and physicians. The reason for conducting this research is to report on the results of a Translating Research Into Practice (TRIP) intervention, that includes strategies designed to promote adoption of

A friend of mine who is a pharmacist and also suffer from chronic diseases and has had extensive experience in the arena management. What to say when contacting the physician pain management in order to prescribe opioids on the long run? It was very difficult.

Given that there are psychosocial factors that may contribute to or exacerbate chronic pain, it stands that the medical model treatment of pain is insufficient in the management of pain. However, pain management has not been a priority in funding or service, especially in community health settings where there are high rates of chronic pain and inadequate pain treatment. Further, ethnic minorities are less likely to receive adequate pain management services, treatment, and even pain medication (Anderson, Richman, Hurley, Palos, Valero, Mendoa, Gning, & Cleeland, 2002).

DOI: 9/5/2014. The patient is a 54-year old male fiber technician who sustained a work-related injury to his neck, shoulders, face, right eye, and lower back due to motor vehicle accident while returning to the office. As per OMNI entry, he was diagnosed with status post motor vehicle accident; left thoracic sprain/strain; multiple face lacerations; blunt trauma; and concussion with no loss of consciousness.

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.

This paper is going to talk about how to deal with chronic pain. First of all, this paper will explain what chronic pain means by providing the foremost chronic pain encountered in life such as low back, joints, or other kinds. Next, this paper will cover why it is important to address conditions related to chronic pain, and will explore methods and strategies showing how to cope with continuing pain. Finally, this paper will share some predictable outcomes and a conclusion.