Journal of perianesthesia nursing : official journal of the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses
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J. Perianesth. Nurs. · Dec 1999
ReviewPreoperative strategies for managing postoperative pain at home after day surgery.
Patients undergoing surgery, whether major or minor, require postoperative care and pain management. Most of the postoperative care for day surgery patients continues at home. ⋯ The preoperative assessment nurse provides education and practical advice about pain management at home. Then, on the day of surgery, the day surgery staff reinforces written and verbal home care instructions with the patients and their home caregivers.
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Complementary therapies are being used by nurses across America to enhance patient care. Aroma-therapy is a tool for holistic nursing that appears to enhance pain control and could prove to be a useful addition to peri-anesthesia nursing practice. This report addresses the emergence of non-conventional therapies and examines the potential role for aroma-therapy in peri-anesthesia pain management. Tables provide information about essential oils and application methods.
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Effective preoperative communication and an awareness of the mechanisms and treatment of neurogenic pain by nursing staff directly influence the choice of intraoperative and postoperative pain management. This article describes the case study of a young woman with neurogenic pain and highlights the importance of having a working knowledge of this type of pain, its assessment, and treatment.
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Pruritus and urticaria frequently occur during the perianethesia period. Knowledge of the physiology of these symptoms can assist the perianesthesia nurse to identify the appropriate nursing and medical interventions.
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J. Perianesth. Nurs. · Oct 1999
ReviewWhat can the postanesthesia care unit manager do to decrease costs in the postanesthesia care unit?
The economic structure of the PACU dictates whether a cost-reducing intervention (e.g., reducing the length of time patients stay in the PACU) is likely to decrease hospital costs. Cost-reducing interventions, such as changes in medical practice patterns (e.g., to reduce PACU length of stay), only impact variable costs. How PACU nurses are paid (e.g., salaried v hourly) affects which strategies to decrease PACU staffing costs will actually save money. ⋯ Surgeons, for example, may not want to lose control over the order of their cases. Guidelines for analysis of past daily peak numbers of patients are provided that will provide data to predict the minimum adequate number of nurses needed. Though many managers already do this manually on an ad hoc basis statistical methods summarized in this article may increase the accuracy.