Pain Control: Patient And Overall Nursing Care

Pain is one of the most common reason patient seek out help. The concept of pain can affect every person is some form or way. Pain can stand alone as a theory or fix with other theories like Comfort, Self- care, and more. As a surgical nurse I need to have a higher understanding of the patients I care for to ensure they receive the best care. Concept analysis is a form of research that allows a person to explore a theory/ concept to the fullest degree in an organized way. This concept analysis will take Walker & Avant’s steps to form a better understanding into pain.

The practice of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has been around for approximately four decades now. During this time there have been improvements to the technology and the understanding of how to use this form of patient pain control; however, there continues to be concern related to the safety and efficacy of PCA. As this analysis proceeds it will briefly explain what PCA is and how it is used, then delve into the benefits and the safety issues surrounding PCA use as it pertains to the patient and the nurse. Some of the benefits of PCA include improved pain management, improved use of nursing resources, increased patient satisfaction, and reduced pulmonary issues (Hicks, Sikirica, Nelson, Schein & Cousins, 2008). Some of the safety

Trossman (2006) states that at least 50% of patients are suffering from moderate to severe pain at their time of death, that 70 million Americans experience pain throughout their activities of daily living and that nurses hold the keys to pain management. According to Abdalrahim et al. (2010) there have been countless evidence-based studies regarding pain management; nevertheless, the inability to control the patients’ pain has increased due to nurses often devaluing the information they receive from the patients about their current pain level, these actions are directly related to a withholding of

According to surveys, up to 80% of patients reported moderate to severe post-surgical pain, which can sometimes be left undertreated (Sinatra et al., 2005). Postoperative pain is generally managed with opioids, which carry numerous side effects. Side effects can be bothersome and possibly cause a delay in the postoperative healing process (Beard, Leslie, & Nemeth, 2011). IV acetaminophen can possibly decrease opioid consumption, minimize side effects, increase patient satisfaction, and decrease costs (Wininger et al., 2010). The purpose of this paper is to dive further into the research to present data on the effectiveness of IV acetaminophen in decreasing opioid usage and whether it produces an additive effect causing more effective pain management in the postop patient.

Nursing assessment is a substantial way of gathering physiological, psychological, spiritual, and emotional condition of the patient. It creates a whole picture of an individual and assist the health care providers to formulate a diagnosis. Assessing the comfort of the patient is equally important as taking the blood pressure or temperature. Pain is the fifth (5th) vital sign that is subjective in nature when performing an assessment of a patient. Various studies were conducted in finding the most appropriate evidence-based nursing practice in assessing and managing the pain of a cognitively impaired patient, whether it is acute or chronic or the underlying cause is cancer or post-operative incision. As emphasized by Song, Eaton, Gordon, Hoyle, and Doorenbos (2015), it is vital to ensure that “pain management is based on the best evidence” (p. 456). Perhaps knowing the causes of inability to assess and manage the pain in a cognitively impaired patient would give a clearer understanding of the practice.

Pain is one of the most influential symptoms that leads individuals to reach out to health care professionals to seek relief. Pain is subjective and unique to each person. Some individuals may have a higher pain tolerance than others. According to Frandsen (2014), “Pain is an unpleasant, sensory, emotional sensation associated with actual or potential tissue injury” (p. 889). Pain may be caused by a variety of elements, such as tissue or nerve damage and surgery. There are three main categories that pain is classified by, which are origin, duration, and cause. The main focus of this paper is on acute pain, chronic pain, and phantom pain. It is crucial to know how to assess each type of pain, as well as how to enhance it, or decrease the pain.

This essay will aim to look at the main principles of cancer pain management on an acute medical ward in a hospital setting. My rational for choosing to look at this is to expend my knowledge of the chosen area. Within this pieces of work I will look to include physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of pain management.

Participants completed a Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form within 24 hours of admission and every 48 hours until discharge. The nurse practitioners that gave the surveys reevaluated the patient’s feedback on a weekly basis. The study concluded that using the intervention of audit and feedback strategy, there was an increased compliance with using the CPGs (Dulko et al., 2010). There was also a significant increase in the documentation of the initial pain assessment and repeat assessments following a pharmacological intervention. Although the disease process of cancer patients cannot be avoided, it is imperative that this group of patients have substantial symptom control (Dulko et al.,

When my mentor came to assess the patient, initially she took the PCA button away from him. She said it could be because of the opium overdose. I did not even think about it before and it was new information for me. Therefore, I read some books about the opioid analgesics, which is widely used for the patient controlled analgesia.

Non-pharmacological adjuvants are non-medicinal elements which could include music, relaxation, breathing techniques, imagery, distraction, and massage (Sylvia, Carol, LeeAnn & MSN, 2011). Assessments of pain and side effects refer to the examination of a patient at regular intervals of time. Intervention and reassessment is based on changes related to previous pain and side effect assessments. Patient education is training individuals on how to manage or prevent pain with medication and activity. Goal setting is designed to aid in maintaining and reducing pain by allowing the patient, nurse, and doctor to work together in order to form a plan of pain management. All concepts work together to promote a balance between analgesia and side effects.

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.

At first it seems difficult to understand why hospitalized patients’ pain is not well controlled. After all, nurses want to relieve suffering – to do good without causing harm and to treat each individual justly without

In 2003, the American Nurses’ Association published a position statement regarding “Pain Management and Control of Distressing Symptoms in Dying Patients.” The organization states:

Childbirth can be described as one of the most rewarding and also painful experiences in a woman’s life. Most women choose some type of method to ease pain, however, there has been a lot of controversy over with pain management method is the most effective. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), In 2013, there were 3,932,181 births recorded in the United States, 32.7% of those births were surgical procedures. In 2012, 1.36% of recorded births occurred out-of-hospital, meaning these births took place mostly in homes or birthing centers. Without the option of medicine that a hospital provides, how were these women able to manage their pain during labor and delivery. There are many different methods for easing pain during childbirth, some methods involve the use of medicine and surgery, and others include natural techniques, such as hypnosis, Lamaze, and many others. It is a personal preference of the parents over which method is right for the needs of the mother and child. This can be an overwhelming decision for new parents to make because they have to take into consideration the safety of the mother and child, pain management for the mother and desire for medical involvement.

Engwall (2009) defined pain as a "symptom and a warning that something is wrong in an organism” (p 370). Rathmell et al., (2006) maintained that fear of uncontrolled pain can be a traumatic situation for a patient undergoing surgery. Moreover, Pellino, et al (2005) sustained that “pain is a multidimensional experience, consisting of not only physical stimuli but also psychological interpretations of pain” (p. 182). Alleviating peri-operative pain is traditionally achieved with the use of pharmacological interventions. analgesia can incur undesirable side-effects like drowsiness, nausea and vomiting. Controlling the pain by complimenting analgesics with the use of non-pharmacological interventions, might ameliorate patients’ response to pain with fewer resultant side-effects. Thus, the need to evaluate the effect of non-pharmacological measures such as music, relaxation, hypnosis and others is highly solicited in the evolving heath system (Pyati & Gan, 2007).