Pain Management

Chronic pain is a tremendous public health problem, and a costly one. As health care advances and the need for palliative care rises, patients and health care providers are constantly investigating alternative methods of pain treatment and management. Questioning and challenging traditional health policies and practices has created a curiosity in the use of cannabis as an alternative option to standard opioids, for the management of chronic pain. Cannabis, is a leafy green plant consisting of buds and leaves of the cannabis sativa forma indica plants. Marijuana has been used in holistic solutions for hundreds of years; it has also been especially prevalent among terminally ill patients, who have been reported using it to alleviate symptoms like chronic pain, nausea and depression.

Chronic pain is a tremendous public health problem, and a costly one. As health care advances and the need for palliative care rises, patients and health care providers are constantly investigating alternative methods of pain treatment and management. Questioning and challenging traditional health policies and practices has created an interest in the use of cannabis as an alternative option to standard opioids, for the management of chronic pain. Cannabis, or marijuana, is a leafy green plant consisting of buds and leaves of the cannabis sativa forma indica plants. Marijuana has been used in holistic solutions for hundreds of years; it has also been especially prevalent among terminally ill cancer patients, who have been reported using it to alleviate symptoms like chronic pain, nausea and depression.

Pain management in burn unit hospitals continues to be a major challenge for many hospitalized patients of all ages. Patients who are required to be hospitalized are usually ones who have moderate to severe burns that result in traumatic tissue damages. The topic of this research paper will be about pain management in patients with burns. The purpose of this paper is stated in following as a patient intervention comparison and outcome (PICO) format, in patients with severe burns who requires routine dressing changes, how does the combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain management compare to using pharmacological pain management alone affect the patient’s overall pain experience?

Back pain is one of the most common ailments today affecting up to 80% of people in the United States. Options have always included conservative measures, such as chiropractic care or physical therapy, or extreme measures, such as surgery. Patients have become more knowledgeable about the treatment options and are searching for different routes. Today, many patients with pain are looking at interventional pain management procedures for pain relief. These procedures include injections like epidurals and facet medial branch block injections. This article provides a review of three of the most common fluoroscopically-guided procedures used today. The techniques along with the efficacy of each procedure are also addressed in this article.

Everyone experiences pain differently, its etiology, source, and type of pain is unique to each patient. Pain is defined as “a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that originates from sensory stimuli, which has obvious motivation-affective properties, demands attention, disrupts thought and behavior and results in activity aimed to stop the pain” (Blanchard, 2010). Managing pain in the acute care setting has become one of the greatest challenges nurses and healthcare providers face. Unsatisfactorily managed pain can contribute to several adverse outcomes for hospitalized patients including reduced mobility, stimulation of unhealthy stress response, infection, creates barriers, and additional complications. “As pain treatment becomes more aggressive, so too does our attention to reassessment of pain after intervention to ensure both safe and effective pain management” (Gordon, 2014).

In their article, The problem of pain management: The makers of OxyContin play dirty, from the January 2015 edition of Harper’s magazine, Jonah Campbell and Simon Liem annotate a letter of request from Purdue Pharmaceutical to the Federal Drug Administration. Campbell, who is a research assistant at the McGill University Biomedical Ethics Unit and author of the book Food and Trembling, and Liem, a journalist, argue that Purdue Pharmaceuticals intentions with the letter of withdrawal are only to benefit themselves as a company and that Purdue’s drug formulation of OxyContin does not deter abuse, but the authors fail to back up several of their claims.

A comprehensive and continuous pain assessment by the nursing staff contributes to early intervention of pain, decreased severity of acute pain, and may also prevent long-term effects (Vallerand et al, 2011). A comprehensive pain assessment should include detailed subjective questions, especially questions pertaining to pain intensity. Pain was given the title “the fifth vital sign” in 1999 by the Joint Commission (Glowacki, 2015). As a vital sign, pain must be carefully evaluated during assessment just as the other four vital signs are. Assessment of chronic pain should occur on a regular basis using a standardized method that can be translated to all nursing staff (Jablonski and Ersek, 2009). In a study conducted by Jablonski and Ersek (2009), findings revealed only 32% of the long-term care patients in the study were assessed weekly for pain. The same study also indicated adherence to evidence based guidelines for pain management was not consistently observed in documentation. Critical subjective pain characteristics assessed within the last 30 days were left out of 93% of patient charts. Jablonski and Ersek’s (2009) findings were consistent with several other studies of similar topic. These results provide confirmatory evidence that the assessment is the basis for a successful and effective pain management plan and is imperative to provide

Appropriate pain treatment is essential in providing quality care to patients. Pain is a universal phenomenon caused by varying biological and psychosocial factors. The role of nurses in pain management is to understand pain’s subjectivity and utilize the tools that can aid in assessments, delivery of relief, maintenance, monitoring, and control. This paper will discuss ten items patients should know about regarding pain management. Different standpoints are presented based on used of opioids pain therapy, alternative methods, and psychosocial aspects. Cultural barriers in pain management and ways to address those barriers will also be discussed. The aim of a nurse in managing pain is to deliver

SC placed call to Pa on 2/3/2016 and completed M T/C. The Pa reported no change in health status, falls, ER visit or hospitalization. The did report that he’s entering into a pain management program due to his diagnoses: DJD, Herniated Disks in neck, Vertebrae Deterioration, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Arthritis of the Spine & knee, Bulging Disc – lower back, Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease, Carpal Tunnel, and Levoscoliosis, with symptom of shooting and stabbing pain at a rate of 9/10 w/o meds and 7/10 w/ meds, headaches, difficulty bending, limited ROM in legs and arms, unsteady gait, knees, Pa stated that his R leg is longer than L leg, and they are going make him a special shoe to make his legs equal so that he can walker better

Pain is a major and important health care problem across the world. Many disciplines in medical nursing and other health professions spend time, effort, and resources to develop programs that help patients managing their pain. This paper aims to discus and critique “Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes About Pain in Hospitalized Patients” by Jarrett, Church, Fancher-Gonzalez, Shackelford and Lofton, 2013.

Imagine having open heart surgery and having no pain medication to help with the healing process. Many would not go through the torture. There are many beneficial properties pain medication could manage starting by trusting our physicians opinion, understanding that the best scientist create pain medications that truly work and realizing that many terminal/ long-term illnesses can be made as comfortable as possible. When talking to a doctor about personal health issues, their professional knowledge and training provides a conclusion in the hypothesis or in simpler terms, whether or not to prescribe pain medication to their patients. While ultimately it is the patient’s decision to accept their doctor’s form of treatment, many people rely on

Within this essay I plan to discuss: one current view of path physiology of pain, two ages appropriate pain tools for babies and toddlers and will also be exploring the nursing management of acute pain experience in babies and toddlers, including a strategy for ensuring the safe delivery of care.

Great post! I agree with you that pain management is ultimately the patient’s decision. End of life patients deserve to have pain relief in accordance with their goals and within the professional standards of practice of those who prescribe and administer it (Reynolds, Drew, and Dunwoody, 2013). Family members should be educated so they can support the patient during this critical time.

Pain management is the most important aspect of cancer treatment because chronic severe pain is the worst manifestation of cancer. The use of opium and its congeners, such as morphine, hydromorphone, and methadone, is relatively effective in the management of pain (Lovell et al., 2014). Cognitive behavioral therapy is critical in complementing the role of painkillers in this process. The nurse engages the patient in the therapy that will enable them to accept their problem and develop coping mechanisms. Palliative care is basically the pain management care provided to a patient to relieve the symptoms of painful sensation while managing complications due to unavailability of treatment options or the hope of recovery (Lovell et al., 2014). It

Pain is a personalized individual experience that is subjective and complex. It is, by definition, the result of unpleasant stimuli transmitted by the nervous system to the brain in an effort to alert one that something is wrong within the body (Ignatavicius, 2013). This stimuli can result anywhere from that of a pin-prick of a needle to that of an extensive burn as the result of a house fire. Moreover, pain can be emotional and mental as with that of difficult heartbreak or loss of loved one. All in all, the nature of pain is mystery to many health care professionals as it acts as a protective mechanism towards the body but varies from patient to patient. It is because of this that pain as a whole is “whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing wherever he or she says it does” (Ignatavicius, 2013). Even with its universality, this description of pain rests on the belief that the only person with the authority to describe the pain is the one experiencing it. It is with this belief and the lack of objective testing that all accounts of pain be taken seriously and managed in matter that is both efficient and ethical.