The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmières
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Health professionals are routinely exposed to evidence of pain in others. It is important that the processes by which they evaluate pain be understood. The purposes of this article are to review and synthesize recent research on how health professionals judge the pain of others and to present a conceptual model of this process. ⋯ They also review experiential and cognitive-perceptual variables found to influence the degree of underestimation bias, such as the amount of exposure to evidence of pain and suspicion about the motivations of the patient. A model of the pain decoding process is presented. The issue of whether underestimation has implications for treatment outcome is addressed and priorities for future research are identified.
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Understanding the relationships between spirituality and health has become increasingly important in health research, including nursing research. Very little of the research thus far has focused on spirituality, religion, and pain even though spiritual views have been intertwined with beliefs about pain and suffering throughout history. Spiritual views can have a substantial impact on patients' understanding of pain and decisions about pain management. ⋯ The analysis is concerned with how spirituality and religion have been used to construct a meaning of pain that shapes appraisal, coping, and pain management. The clinical implications include respectful communication with patients about spirituality and pain, inclusion of spirituality in education and support programs, integration of spiritual preferences in pain management where feasible and appropriate, consultation with pastoral care teams, and reflection by nurses about spirituality in their own lives. A discussion of research implications is included.
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The primary purpose was to determine the underlying structure of the vulnerable infant's response to an acute painful procedure. The secondary purpose was to explore the influence of context (e.g., risk for neurological impairment [NI] and gestational age [GA]). A descriptive cohort design determined contributions of selected indicators to the structure of infant pain. ⋯ Facial actions accounted for the greatest variance across all factor solutions (29-39%). Physiological indicators explained 8 to 26% additional variance. There were no consistent differences in the factor structures when contextual factors were explored.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the nurse practitioner (NP) within an interdisciplinary model of pain management in long-term care (LTC). In a cross-sectional survey, 16 NPs in the Canadian province of Ontario (89%) indicated whether they currently performed and whether they should be performing 33 activities related to pain management and identified barriers to the fulfilment of their pain-management role. Most NPs (81.3%) reported use of pain-assessment tools, but less than half reported use of pain-management clinical practice guidelines. ⋯ However, most felt that they should be more involved in these activities. Barriers to NP management of pain included time constraints; prescribing restrictions; lack of knowledge; difficulties with assessing pain; MD, staff, resident, and family reservations about use of opioids; and poor collaboration with physicians. The results indicate that NPs are not being used to their full potential in managing pain among elderly LTC residents.