Cold Therapy

Game Ready® is a modality system that employs the ice and compression components of RICE (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation) treatment techniques for acute injuries and post-surgical patients. In addition, the machine mimics the body’s natural muscle contractions in an effort to manufacture a pump system within the body that can aid in lymphatic function.

Apply icing for 20 minutes, four to six time a day for several days. This will help in reducing pain and swelling.

Because severe pain is more difficult to control, Mrs R may become anxious and fatigued, and may also withdraw again from the regimen if there is no success in achieving pain relief; therefore, the preventive approach needs to be considered. (Wells, 2014). For an effective pain control pain, Mrs R should also keep a daily record of her pain. Writing a diary can help empower the patient in her own care, give her confidence and increase self-efficacy (Bastable, 2014). Also, a strategy of pain management is to combine opiods with non-narcotics, such as Tylenol, in order to enhance pain relief and to slowly decrease the use of narcotics overtime (Lewis, 2014). Mrs R was explained to always follow the right dosage of medication to optimize the narcotic results. A complete assessment of pain should be performed: PQRST. Pain is a subjective concept and the patient must describe the pain in order to provide an effective care plan (Jarvis, 2013). Responses to pain medication should be documented to facilitate communication between health care providers, therefore to maximise effective pain management strategies (Lewis, 2014). The use of non-pharmacological therapy for pain is also recommended to Mrs R because it helps reduce the dose of an analgesic/opiod required to control pain and helps to minimize analgesic side effects, and also promote the release of endorphins which inhibit pain signals (NCBI, 2010). Mrs R is encouraged to use distraction such as watching TV, listening to the radio/music, which redirect the attention on something and away of the pain. Imagery can also be proposed to divert the focus away from the pain by stimulating the client’s imagination to develop sensory images. Relaxation strategies can also be used to help Mrs R to be free of her anxiety and stress, and to reduce muscle tension (Lewis,

Ice or cold therapy should be applied throughout the rehabilitation process. Apply ice for 15 minutes every hour initially for the first day then reduce this to 4 to 5 times a day from then on as required. Do not apply directly to the skin as this may cause ice burns. Using ice wrapped in a wet towel or cold pack can avoid this. In the first stage ice will constrict blood vessels and prevent further bleeding. Long-term benefits include reduction of pain and muscle spasm. Ice should not be used for longer than 15 minutes as prolonged cooling has the reverse effect of increasing blood flow and long periods of cooling can also cause nerve injury. Ice therapy should be used throughout the rehabilitation process to control inflammation, but only in 15-minute sessions each time.

In this article published in the journal Dyanmics, also known as the journal for the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses, the authors review a retrospective cohort regarding the barriers for time to target temperature management in cardiac arrest patients who are treated with therapeutic hypothermia. The article authored by a both registerd nurses and medical doctors open by reviewing the benefits of therapeutic hypothermia. The article reviews two randomized controlled trials that showed that therapeutic hypothermia when compared to no intervention correlated with improved neurological survival in patients after cardiac arrest. Therapeutic hypothermia has a direct relation to patient survival with intact neurologic function; however

The strength of this recommendation is inconclusive. As practitioners, we should have minimum restraint in following this recommendation and should be on the lookout for new evidence in addition to strongly listening to patient preference. This recommendation is based upon three RCT’s. Two of these studies were of high strength and one was of moderate strength with regard to quality. All three of these studies had moderate applicability. In these studies, pain improvement was not consistently statistical significant (MD = .81, 95% CI -1.76, .14; MD = 2.26, p<.001; MD = -.82, 95% CI -1.247, -.39), and neither was function (MD = 3, 95% CI -1.05, 7.05; MD = 6.54, p=.001). In addition, the authors concluded the clinical significance of these findings were

Many processes happen within the human body in regards to exercise and pain. One major complaint within athletics is muscle soreness caused by exercise. Muscle soreness can affect performance negatively during activity. Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is a sub-type of soreness that intensifies after twenty-four to forty-eight hours post exercise. It is thought to be caused by small tears in the muscle tissues, inflammation, or it could be due to the disruption of connective tissue of the muscle tissue, stiffness (Prentice, 2009, p. 273). CWI is thought to decrease the effects of DOMS and promote an active recovery by decreasing inflammation and metabolism, which can slow down the physiological responses of injury. (Knight and Draper, 2013, p. 214)

Pain is the way the body communicates and lets us know that there is something wrong that needs attention. The brain processes that sensation into information and that leads us to take action. If it is a natural part of our beings and is necessary then why do we do all we can to suppress it? There is a fine line between pain that is needed to help with function and pain that is there that disturbs homeostasis. There is also a question of is pain real or is it all in the mind. Pain and being able to manage it, is a very big component in the perioperative setting. It is triggered differently and is unique to each person this make treating pain just as unique. This paper will discuss pain management in the pre-operative, intra-operative and post- operative settings.

Hypothermia is a common problem in surgical patients. Up to 70% of patients experience some degree of hypothermia that is undergoing anesthetic surgery. Complications include but are not limited to wound infections, myocardial ischemia, and greater oxygen demands. The formal definition of hypothermia is when the patient’s core body temperature drops below 36 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to synthesize what studies reveal about the current state of knowledge on the effects of pre-operative warming of patient’s postoperative temperatures. I will discuss consistencies and contradictions in the literature, and offer possible explanations for the inconsistencies.

Abstract: Cold packs are based on the principle of endothermic reactions, which means a reaction that absorbs heat from the surrounding resulting in a temperature drop. Due to this temperature drop, cold packs have many benefits when it comes to injuries such as sprains and strains. It cools the local tissue and reduces bleeding, swelling and pain. It also aids in a speedy recovery. The most commonly used chemical in instant cold packs is ammonium nitrate which will be tested in the investigation along with four other chemicals in water. These other chemicals include potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, sodium acetate and sodium chloride. The

Pain is the most commonly reported reason for coming to the hospital in America. It’s causes have a massive variance, and in many chronic cases the root source of pain can not be articulated at all. When a patient reports pain, the role of the nurse, and the whole healthcare staff, is to aim to reduce that pain. In many cases pain reduction can be attained through nonpharmacologic, complementary and alternative methods (CAM). Using CAM to reduce pain is an ideal scenario for both the patient and the healthcare staff as these alternative methods have fewer negative consequential effects.

The major concepts of this theory are defined theoretically since the use of these definitions is from a broader theoretic concept. Therefore, an operational concept could be developed from them. There is consistency in the use of these concepts throughout the theory of acute pain management with examples given using the same language as well as maintaining the integrity of the concepts.

The nursing topic that I am going to base my final paper on is the use of hypothermia therapy following the successful resuscitation of adult patients. I want to further understand the positive or the negative outcomes for patients after we have using the hypothermia therapy protocol. hypothermia _1_.pdf This is one of the research studies that I plan on using in the research for my finial paper. The PICO question that I will be trying to answer in my research paper will be " In the resuscitated adult patient does the use of hypothermia therapy have a reduced mortality rate for adult patients after they have been discharged from the hospital?" By using the definition of PICOT from our book, the P in my research is resuscitated adult patients,

According to John Hopkins Medicine (n.d.), pain is an uncomfortable feeling that tells you something may be wrong. It can be fixed, throbbing, stabbing, aching, pinching, or described in many other ways. Pain is categorized as either acute or chronic. Acute pain is usually severe and brief, and is often a signal that your body has been injured. Chronic pain can vary from mild to severe and is there for long periods of time (John Hopkins Medicine, n.d). This paper will discuss a scenario that entails which person is experiencing the most pain, how two people can have the same procedure experience different levels of pain, factors that contribute to each person’s pain level, and two complementary/alternative methods of pain control.

However, other resources, such as mobile doctors may be available to prevent the patient from requiring hospital admission (17). Furthermore, certain approaches to pain relief, such as warm running water and cold packs, are not always readily available to paramedics. Thus implementing these procedures as a necessary part of paramedic practice would not prove practical. However, paramedics should be aware of the different approaches to relieving pain for these patients and be further aware that if the resources are available, they should be utilised in order to provide as much relief as possible to the suffering