Essay On Pain Control

1. It is important that we take into consideration, areas other than physical pain and have an holistic approach. Pain is whatever the person who is suffering it feels it to be. Physical pain can be experienced as a result of disease or injury, or some other form of bodily distress. For example childbirth. Although not associated with injury or disease, but can be an extremely painful experience. Pain can also be social, emotional and spiritual as well as just physical.

Unfortunately, many clinicians and older adults wrongfully assume that pain should be expected in aging, which leads to less aggressive treatment. Older adults have additional fears about becoming dependent, undergoing invasive procedures, taking pain medications, and having a financial burden. The most common pain-producing conditions for aging adults include

What is pain? If you ask someone to tell you the definition of pain they will typically state something that hurts. Registered nurses should know the definition of pain and how it can be identified on their patients. However, Abdalrahim, Majali, Stomberg, and Bergbom (2010) propose that nurses did not receive adequate education in pain management and suggest the lack of knowledge hinders their ability to adequate control their patients’ pain. Therefore, the unethical treatment of pain can be traced back nurses.

When pain lasts three to six months or more, it is considered chronic pain. According to the American Geriatrics Association, more than 50 percent of seniors living at home and up to 80 percent of those in care facilities suffer from chronic pain. As a result, a great number of these seniors are not able to function properly during the day or sleep well at night. Some of the most frequent causes of chronic pain in seniors are arthritis, glaucoma, poor circulation, and nerve damage.

Last semester in clinical, there was a patient with sickle cell anemia and he automatically sparked an interest in me. The patient was quite young and was in so much pain that he could not even bear to be touched by the nurse and reported a pain level of 8. Before my encounter with this patient, I did not know much about sickle cell anemia and decided to do some research on this disease. In my research, I learned that a majority of these patients go through acute pain episodes that occur chronically. After learning this and thinking about the young boy in the hospital, I wanted to discover more about how the pain in these patients are managed and controlled.

Some patient’s were either on other pain medications or psychotropic medications and the nurse was unclear as to treat with medical therapy or non-medical therapy. This lack of knowledge can play in delay of treatment. Suggestions to overcome this were recommended for a pain management program. The change led to more patient routine pain scales being conducted but strategies were limited to show effectiveness since mostly non-pharmacologic measures were used. As a future advanced nurse practitioner, I believe that this article is useful to me and my career because it will remind me to use formulated pain scales and cues for pain based on the cognitive ability of the dementia of the patient. Despite the pain measures that the patient is already on, the patient should be treated appropriately for the pain that they are having. For instance, if their pain measures a 7 on the scale and they are receiving pain management scheduled and they are not due for a scheduled narcotic for another six hours then that patient should receive a PRN medication rather than a non-pharmacological

It is a challenge to manage pain in older adults. The course of action, effect and

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,

The authors of the article each come with their own perepectives on pain management in the cognitively impaired older adult.

Management of chronic pain can be very difficult and it is especially important to personalize the plan of care to the client and to the type of chronic pain, rather than by its cause or its severity. One of the most often relied on ways to manage chronic pain in the elderly is through pharmaceutical methods. (Pateinakis, 2013) In the elderly differences in drug efficacy and the incidences of toxicity due to decreased albumin blood serum levels and differences in absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. Because of the increased risks, elderly clients should begin taking the lowest effective dose, and then gradually increase the dosage to achieve the steady state and desired effects. To begin the treatment of chronic pain, weighing

The implementation of pain management based on the best available evidence implies the comprehensive assessment of pain with a reliable and valid assessment instrument, the application of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions based on the findings of the evaluation, the frequent re-evaluation of pain to know the level of response to treatment. Although evidence-based pain management

Pain medications are drugs that are utilized to relieve the uneasiness associated with injury, disease, or surgery. There are different types of medications used to relieve pain because of the complexity of the pain process. These various kinds of medications for relieving pain work through varying psychological mechanisms. Generally, pain medications are classified into two major categories i.e. prescription and non-prescription drugs. Prescription drugs are extensive medications against pain and include more powerful drugs than the over-the-counter medications. These drugs are virtually used for any kind of pain situation though they are usually reserved for severe pain i.e. acute or chronic pain. In contrast, non-prescription drugs consists various mild anti-inflammatory medications that are mainly used for short-term pain and minor strains. Therefore, non-prescription drugs are used for common pains and aches and lower fever (Morelli & Vogin, n.d.). Some of the most common types of drugs used to relieve pain include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids, muscle relaxants, corticosteroids, antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, acetaminophen, and anticonvulsant drugs.

Multimodal pain management strategy using liposomal bupivacaine (EXPERAL) in Knee Arthroplasty for better postsurgical analgesic outcome and economic benefits.

Marion Good, PhD, RN, has focused her study, “A Middle-Range Theory of Acute pain Management: Use in Research,” on complementary medicine for pain and stress, acute pain, and stress immunity. The purpose of this theory is to put into practice guidelines for pain management. Good, 1998, noted the need for a balance between medication usage and side effects of pain medications. The theory also promoted patient education related to pain management following surgery and encouraged plan development for acceptable levels of pain management. This theory was developed through deductive reasoning. Chinn & Kramer, 2008, defined deductive reasoning as going from a general concept to a more specific concept.

In this discussion, I will be looking at the different forms of pain and how this pain is caused within the body. The number of different types of drugs used to treat pain is forever expanding but I will examine the main types of painkiller, how they were discovered and how they work to relieve the symptoms of pain.