Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
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Pain in people with cancer is common but often under-recognized and under-treated. Guidelines can improve the quality of pain care, but need targeted strategies to support implementation. ⋯ This study confirmed the need to implement evidence-based guidelines for cancer pain and generated useful insights into the feasibility of pain screening and audit.
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Effective acute pain management following injury is critical to improve short-and long-term patient outcomes. Analgesics can effectively reduce pain intensity, yet half of injury patients report moderate to severe pain during hospitalization. ⋯ This study revealed that few analgesics administered in the emergency department and the in-patient unit to patients with lower extremity fractures provide adequate pain relief. In the emergency department, all analgesics administered resulted in at least minimal improvement of pain. On the in-patient unit 13 analgesic doses resulted at least minimal improvement in pain while nine doses did not even reach 20% change in pain. Findings from this study can be used guide the treatment of fracture pain in the hospital.
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The current landscape contains conflicting reports regarding the use of medical marijuana, creating fields of misinformation and lack of understanding by health care providers about cannabinoids. In this article we provide a dispassionate look at medical marijuana, while providing a clinical overview focusing on pain management. ⋯ Finally, recommendations for pain management nurses on integrating research, clinical practice, and U. S. drug policy are made.
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Pain assessment of patients with traumatic brain injury is a challenge because they are unable to self-report their pain experience. ⋯ Our results suggest the BPS-Br is a useful tool for clinical practice to evaluate the pain experienced by patients with traumatic brain injury. Further studies of different samples are needed to evaluate the benefits of systematic pain assessment of critically ill patients.
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In hospitals, efficient pain care given by nurses is warrented because pain prevalence in the previous 24 hours has been reported to be high. This study aims to clarify nurse's experiences with pain management as a specific responsibility added to their regular clinical duties. In addition, this study aims to elucidate these nurses' attitudes about sharing their pain knowledge with their colleagues. ⋯ Overall, the nurses maintained a constructive attitude about their responsibilities to teach colleagues about pain management in spite the difficulties they experienced fulfilling all their responsibilities. Nurses who have the added responsibility to teach their colleagues pain management need specialized education in pain management and pedagogic skills for teaching clinical pain management. Moreover, these nurses need to be given the time, support, and collaborative opportunities to develop their knowledge. A nursing model that provides nurses trained in pain management education should be developed and evaluated.