Pain Management Of Pain

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.

According to Allen et al. (2012), “millions of people with chronic illnesses endure unrelieved pain, uncontrolled physical symptoms and unresolved psychosocial or spiritual problems.” This issue occurs because palliative care is often considered a form of end-of-life care. Palliative care is a treatment that can be used for patients who suffer from chronic illnesses and diseases while receiving curative treatment. (Horowitz, Grambling & Quill, 2014) purposely states the misconceptions of palliative care and advocated for seriously ill patients that education must bring under control the misconceptions. Some patients do not receive appropriate symptom management because the palliative care treatment needed is often confused with end-of-life care. However, end-of-life care attempts to relieve pain and suffering when a disease is no longer responsive to curative treatment. Pain and suffering could ultimately be controlled or even eliminated through the proper utilization of palliative care. Patients who are not referred to palliative care in a timely manner is more likely to have poor quality of life, uncontrolled symptom management and increased amounts of visits to the emergency room during the disease process. Patients with life limiting illnesses bear the burden of increased discomfort and increased suffering. Nurses experience clinical practice issues and difficulties in the clinical setting during the delivery of comfort and symptom management. These issues

In almost every case of a terminal disease, pain is intolerable and seeing someone in such agony is heartbreaking. For example, Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old brain cancer patient who had to move to Oregon so she can avail of the Death with Dignity act. “Maynard knew that her form of brain cancer would be excruciating. She would endure swelling of the brain that would very likely cause seizures, painful headaches and the gradual loss of bodily function. Doctors know that for about 5 percent of the population, no amount of morphine can block the agonizing pain the terminally ill endure” (EDITORIAL: Dying with dignity). Palliative care can often be provided for the dying patients and alleviating pain to provide comfort for the dying has always been the priority. “Palliative care focuses on relieving the symptoms, particularly the pain, of incurable illness.” (Palliative Care) But, in relieving pain through the prescribed medications there are also side effects that are caused by the prescribed pain suppressors and two examples will be lethargy and it compromises breathing. In most cases the effectivity of the pain medication may no longer alleviate the pain. If a patient will be in such agony for the remaining days or weeks the quality of life is no longer present. The agony of pain prevents a patient from performing even just the bodily functions.

Long term condition (LTC) is a health problem that cannot be cured, at present, but can be managed by medication or therapies’ (Snodden., 2010: p1). There are more than 15 million people in England that are suffering from long term conditions (Department of Health., 2013). Long-term conditions are more common in older people. The percentages of people of over 60 having a LTC is 58 per cent compared to under that is 14 per cent (Department of Health, 2012). LTC is also more predominant in more deprived groups, such as the poorest social class as it has 60 per cent higher prevalence than of those in the richest social class. (Department of Health, 2012).

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.

Patients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses may turn to palliative care for its symptom relieving benefits as well as its ability to improve their quality of life. A key factor in quality palliative care is effective communication between medical professionals and the patient as well as the patient’s caretakers. Pain management, continuity of care among caretakers and medical providers, and concentration on the patient’s personal preference are all major aspects of palliative care. Good palliative care should begin with a discussion on advanced care directives, preferably initiated by a physician. (Fine, et al. 595,

The first 48 hours of pain analysis and treating the pain of the patient to the hospice (or end-of-life patient in any other stetting) are crucial. However, the patient may be unable to speak and articulate his pain, or may be able to inadequately express the symptoms. One of the major concerns for those who are at the end of life is

When considering the unbearable pain on the body of a terminal cancer sufferer, medication is the basis of pain control. A combination of medicines such as morphine or aspirin are administered to relieve the pain. In addition therapists are utilised to improve the mental stability. Thus these effective mechanisms reduce physical and emotional suffering on individuals, which inherently minimises their desire for death, through Euthanasia. Further, palliative treatment has a positive impact upon the family members involved. They don't have to witness the immense suffering of their loved ones, and instead are able to see them with a higher quality of living. This provides for valuable memories during their final stages of life which are deeply cherished.

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?

A primary role of palliative care is the relief of pain and other physical, psychologist, and emotional symptoms. Patients with advanced diseases such as dementia may be at substantial risk for undetected or undertreated pain. Palliative care interventions can improve the management of pain and other symptoms in patients. Psychosocial, spiritual, and bereavement support are key elements of palliative care. Depression is associated with higher utilization of healthcare services as well as significantly increased mortality rates. Another key element of palliative care is attending to the needs of family members and

305). The abstract of this article is instrumental in providing the reader with a clear summary of the study. A brief overview, the aim to explore the experiences of breakthrough pain among palliative patients, is followed by the research problem, palliative patients are experiencing significant suffering because of breakthrough pain (Pathmawathi, Beng, Li, Rosli, Sharwend, Kavitha, & Christopher, 2015, p.552). Pathmawathi et al, (2015), describes the study design as qualitative study, of 21 palliative patient’s suffering from breakthrough pain, based open-ended interviews that generated five (5) different major themes (discussed in research findings) (p. 552). Additionally, the authors made recommendations to assess the five major themes discovered to include using non-pharmacologic approaches, education and guidance on pain management and the use of more sensitive approaches related to pain perception by healthcare workers (Pathmawathi et al., 2015,

“Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.” (who.int, 2014)

Palliative care is to make patients comfortable and improve their quality of life during the last stage of an illness as well as helping patients to deal with the side effects of the medical treatment that they are receiving instead of prolong life (MedlinePlus, 2017). The symptoms that palliative care treatment doucs on is pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, problems with sleep. Effective palliative cate required a broad multidisciplinary approach that induces the family, and make the community resources available to those who are in need (World Health Organization, 2017).

Pain Management is a medical approach that draws on disciplines in science and alternative healing to study the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pain. A recent study showed that 500,000 pregnant women in the United States found that 14% of women filled a prescription for an opioid at least once during the ante partum period and 6% of women received opioids throughout all trimesters. Opioids are drugs that act on the nervous system to relieve pain. This increases the use of narcotics during pregnancy for pain management for pregnant women. Between 1999 and 2010, death has increased fivefold for the pregnant women taking opioids pain relievers in the United States. This article talks about some pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches in managing painful conditions during pregnancy. It also mentions some treatments of conditions that may be present during pregnancy.

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.