Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2000
A pain monitoring program for nurses: effects on communication, assessment and documentation of patients' pain.
Nurses need to be informed about the patient's pain to be able to take appropriate measures to alleviate pain. However, communication, assessment, and documentation of pain by nurses is often a problemfor hospitalized patients. In this study we aimed to overcome the main barriers by developing, implementing, and evaluating a Pain Monitoring Program (PMP) for nurses. ⋯ The PMPproved to be effective in improving nurses'assessment of patients 'pain and documentation about pain in nursing records. Patients' pain intensity and care setting were related to the efficacy of the PMP Communication about pain between patients and nurses, and between patients and physicians did not improve as a result of the PAIP Based on this study it can be concluded that in using a simple method such as the numeric rating scale, together with an education program, attention is focused in a systematic way on patients'pain complaints and creates a common language between patients and nurses. Because the PMP proved effective in a heterogenous population in multiple care settings, it is recommended to implement the PMP in nursing practice.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2000
ReviewAntidepressants and anticonvulsants for diabetic neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia: a quantitative systematic review.
To determine the relative efficacy and adverse effects of antidepressants and anticonvulsants in the treatment of diabetic neuroapathy and postherpetic neuralgia, published reports were identified from a variety of electronic databases, including Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and the Oxford Pain Relief Database, and from two previously published reviews. Additional studies were identified from the reference lists of retrieved reports. The relative benefit (RB) and number-needed-to-treat (NNT) for one patient to achieve at least 50 % pain relief was calculated from available dichotomous data, as was the relative risk (RR) and number-needed-to-harm (NH) for minor adverse effects and drug related study withdrawal. ⋯ Antidepressants and anticonvulsants had the same efficacy and incidence of minor adverse effects in these tzoo neuropathic pain conditions. There was no evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were better than older antidepressants, and no evidence that gabapentin was better than older anticonvulsants. In these trials patients were more likely to stop taking antidepressants than anticonvulsants because of adverse effects.
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A retrospective analysis was performed to describe the course of terminal care provided to dying hospitalized children in terms of symptom assessment and management, and communication and decision-making, at the end of life. Seventy-seven of 236 infants and children who died after hospital admission in Edmonton, Canada between January 1996 and June 1998 met entry criteria. Only children who died after a minimum hospitalization of 24 hours in the case of chronic illness or after a minimum hospitalization of 7 days following an acute event were included. ⋯ Decision-making regarding end-of-life issues in this pediatric population was deferred very close to the time of death, and only after no remaining curative therapy was available. Acuity of care was very high prior to death. Children are rarely told that they are dying.
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To ensure the success of a new curriculum at an institution, information about the educational needs of learners, available resources, and potential obstacles needs to be systematically collected and analyzed prior to the development and implementation of the actual curriculum. This process, known as needs assessment, is important in the development of palliative care training for internal medicine residents, because internal medicine has only recently begun to address these issues in a formalized way and palliative care is a relatively new topic in medical education and clinical medicine. Therefore, institutional issues and resistance, lack of knowledge and appropriate attitudes among trainees and faculty, and a paucity of educational models for individual internal medicine training programs present potential obstacles. ⋯ The needs assessment revealed the following educational, clinical, and institutional information: 1) interns had very little exposure to palliative care in medical school; 2) there was no formalized system formal education and clinical exposure; 3) tremendous interest in palliative care education existed; 4) patients, families, physicians, and nurses perceived a need to improve the quality of palliative care; and 5) there are several political, logistical, and resource (time and financial) obstacles that needed to be addressed. An institution-specific needs assessment is an important part of the successful development and implementation of any new curriculum for medical residents and was specifically necessary for our palliative care program. As a result of the needs assessment process, a curriculum consisting of ten units of case-based and problem-based teaching was successfully implemented.